THE  ISLAND 


HARLES 

BARREN 

rODDARD 


" 


LIBRARY 

OF    THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


3hilauit  nf  tranquil 


A  South  Sea  Idyl  and  Others 


By 

Charles  Warren  Stoddard 


c 


A  South  Sea  Idyl  and  Others 


By 

Charles  Warren  Stoddard 

Author  of  South  Sea  Idyls 


Boston 

Herbert  B.  Turner  &  Company 
1904 


COPYRIGHT,  1904,  BY 
HERBERT  B.  TURNER  &  COMPANY 

Entered  at  Stationers  Hall 
London 

Published  September,  1004 


Go  'QDliUiam  dfccflMcbael  TIClooDwortb 

0!  to  burst  all  links  of  habit— there  to  wander  far 

away, 
On  from  island  unto  island  at  the  gateways  of  the 

day— 

Larger    constellations    burning,    mellow    moons    and 

happy  skies, 
Breadths  of  tropic  shade  and  palms  in  clusters,  knots 

of  Paradise. 

Never   comes   the   trader,   never  floats   an   European 

flag- 
Slides   the   bird   o'er   lustrous   woodland,   droops  the 

trailer  from  the  crag — 

Droops  the  heavy -blossomed  bower,  hangs  the  heavy- 
fruited  tree— 

Summer  isles  of  Eden  lying  in  dark  purple  spheres 
of  sea. 

Locksley  Hall. 


CONTENTS 

THE  ISLAND  OF  TRANQUIL  DELIGHTS  .  13 

ONE  CHRISTMAS  EVE          ....  39 

ABSENT  BEYOND  SEAS       .  .  .  49 

MY  LATE  WIDOW 83 

ON  THE  REEF  •    .  .  .  .          133 

PLANTATION  DAYS  .  .  .  .165 

THE  DRAMA  IN  DREAMLAND    .  .  .189 

A  SAWDUST  FAIRY  .  .  .  .         217 

KANE-ALOHA  .....          255 

THE  PALAOA 279 

A  BUNGALOW  i 1  BEE  ' '      .  305 


OTAHEITE 

Beautiful  Siren,  thou  whose  palm-plumed  crest 
Gems  the  horizon  like  an  emerald  spray 
Plucked  from  perennial  paradise  away 

And  lost  forever,  yet  forever  blest! 

0  Summer  Isle!  the  rich  sea's  rich  bequest 
Unto  her  mermen,  that  with  rare  display 
Meltest  the  souls  of  those  whose  hearts  are  gray, 

Like  the  warm  wave  that  fawns  upon  thy  breast! 

Beautiful  Siren!    Thy  voluptuous  vales 
Invite  the  weary.    As  thy  raptured  guest 
The  mariner  lets  hang  his  mildewed  sails 
And  seeks  the  fervor  of  thy  full  embrace 
In  bowers  whose  balm  betrays  their  hiding-place, 
Never  to  rouse  from  his  enchanted  rest. 


THE    ISLAND    OP    TRANQUIL 
DELIGHTS 


THE  ISLAND  OF  TRANQUIL  DELIGHTS 


.GAIN  and  again  do  I  spring  from  my 
chair  and  abandon  myself  to  paroxysms  of 
indignation  whenever  I  am  reminded  of  my 
one  sole,  solitary  experience  with  the  official 
representative  of  the  Great  Republic  in  a  ro 
mantic  island  of  the  tropic  seas;  but  in  a 
moment  my  wrath  is  turned  to  laughter  when 
I  recall  the  absurd  conclusion  of  the  episode 
which  is  uppermost  in  my  mind  at  this  mo 
ment.  Probably  it  was  all  my  fault.  I  was 
saturated  with  romance.  I  fed  on  the  nectar 
and  ambrosia  that  drop  from  the  pens  of  Her 
man  Melville,  Jules  Verne,  Mayne  Reid  and 
the  rest.  I  had  already  buried  myself  in  the 
13 


THE   ISLAND    OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

Spice  Islands,  apart  from  my  race,  and  ram 
bled  in  perfumed  groves,  where  the  children  of 
nature  tried  their  best  to  spoil  me  and  only 
half  succeeded.  I  was  always  sailing  out  of 
port  in  the  search  of  happiness — the  kind  of 
happiness  one  never  finds  in  this  life.  The 
quest  of  the  Holy  Grail  was  not  more  fruit 
less.  Here  I  longed  for  the  other  shore ;  there 
I  grew  restless  and  stole  back  betimes  to  the 
civilization  that  makes  life  a  burden  by  over 
doing  it.  Again  I  turned  towards  my  islands, 
and  kept  doing  this  sort  of  thing  until  it  grew 
monotonous,  and  then  I  said  to  myself,  Young 
fellow  this  must  be  stopped;  cast  yourself 
penniless  upon  some  undiscovered  island  and 
work  your  passage  home.  The  experience  will, 
in  all  human  probability,  effect  a  permanent 
cure;  you  can  then  settle  down  and  be  as 
stupid  as  the  great  majority.  I  did  it. 

I  embarked  with  a  flourish  of  trumpets 
from  a  French  poet,  who  saw  in  me  a  fra 
ternal  soul  booked  for  an  earthly  paradise. 
He  conjured  me  in  clever  couplets  to  spread 
my  wings;  he  implored  me  to  build  my  nest 
among  the  branches,  to  bathe  in  dew,  and  to 
look  for  him  at  sunrise  with  the  elastic  faith 
of  a  Second  Adventist.  All  this  I  did.  The 
island  of  tranquil  delights  rose  out  of  the  sea 
14 


THE   ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

a  pyramid  of  flowers  girdled  with,  a  silver 
zone;  the  reef  that  flashed  and  sang,  opened 
to  admit  us,  and  then  seemed  to  close  again 
and  shut  us  in  a  little  world  of  unutterable 
beauty.  They  were  positively  ravishing,  those 
first  four-and-twenty  hours.  I  had  a  few  dol 
lars  and  a  box  of  books,  the  circulating  library 
that  a  literary  tramp  would  be  most  likely  to 
cling  to  in  adversity. 

I  took  a  chamber  at  the  corner  of  a  palm- 
tree  and  a  jungle  of  vanilla  beans.  The  great 
satin  sails  of  the  banana  hung  in  a  dead  calm 
beneath  my  window;  a  bread-fruit  tree  stood 
between  me  and  the  other  world ;  I  was  enrap 
tured  with  my  fate.  In  decent  season  I  pre 
sented  myself  at  the  Consulate— a  bungalow 
that  opened  upon  the  bluest  and  most  delicious 
sea  it  has  ever  been  my  lot  to  cruise  in.  I 
entered  with  the  air  of  one  who  reposes  confi 
dence  in  the  representative  of  his  country  and 
is  proud  to  meet  him  under  alien  skies.  A 
bright  smile  lit  up  my  youthful  face— this 
was  ages  ago— my  heart  was  on  my  sleeve,  and 
in  those  days  it  was  just  about  as  much  as  I 
could  carry.  With  an  ingenuous  air,  which 
had  won  me  troops  of  friends  and  invited  not 
a  few  adventurers  to  capture  and  lay  me 
waste,  I  introduced  myself  to  the  representa- 
15 


THE   ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

live  who  sat  in  white  flannel  behind  the  offi 
cial  desk.  He  was  not  over  young,  natty  in 
appearance,  brusque,  and,  I  should  say,  deeply 
involved  in  nation  affairs.  I  said,  ' '  I  am  truly 
yours,  a  scribe  not  without  honor  in  my  family 
circle,  fond  of  travel  and  the  tropics,  and  it 
is  my  wish  to  settle  for  a  time  in  the  island  of 
tranquil  delights. ' '  I  showered  upon  him  let 
ters  of  introduction,  among  them  one  from 
the  poet  who  had  sung  my  praises  and  blown 
me  to  sea  with  his  inspiring  breath.  Our 
representative,  without  raising  his  eyes  from 
the  volume  which  he  had  opened  hastily  as  I 
entered  his  august  presence,  waved  me  to  a 
chair  in  the  corner  of  the  room.  I  sat 
patiently  and  heard  the  white  breakers  clang 
upon  the  reef,  and  saw  the  blue  sea  grow 
bluer  every  moment,  and  listened  to  the  piping 
of  three  nymphs  who  were  playing  nimbly 
upon  the  nose-flute  on  the  lawn  at  the  edge 
of  the  sea. 

Some  moments,  which  were  as  hours,  crept 
by;  the  Consul  turned  the  leaves  of  the  vol 
ume,  compared  notes,  gave  sharp  orders  to  a 
lad,  who,  like  his  master,  was  jauntily  dressed 
in  white  flannel,  and  at  last  turned  upon  me 
with  a  business-like  severity  that  was  not  in 
keeping  with  the  perpetual  repose  of  the 
16 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

island  of  tranquil  delights.  Doubtless  the 
cares  of  his  office  had  wearied  him,  for  over 
yonder  there  are  sometimes  as  many  as  three 
barks  and  a  schooner  reported  in  sight  in  as 
many  months.  I  strove  to  make  due  allowance 
for  what  seemed  to  me  at  the  time  a  discourte 
ous  reception.  He  turned  upon  me  his  bland 
blue  eyes  and  said:  "What  brings  you  here?" 
I  repeated  my  formula,  and  added  that  I 
hoped  to  find  some  opening  in  which  to  hide 
myself  until  I  might  satiate  my  soul  and  get 
money  enough  to  secure  my  passage  home.  I 
was  assured  that  the  case  was  hopeless;  that 
there  were  men  enough  in  that  latitude ;  and 
of  young  men,  too  many.  It  was  evident  that 
I  was  out  of  place  as  well  as  out  of  pocket. 
However—  and  here  the  Consul  spoke  once 
more  officially— I  must  conduct  myself  in  a 
path  extremely  straight  and  uncomfortably 
narrow;  I  must  keep  myself  aloof  from  the 
native  population,  dress  as  well  as  convenient, 
and  possibly  in  time  something  might  be  found 
for  me  to  do.  Meanwhile  I  might  call  at  the 
Consulate  and  occupy  at  intervals  one  of  the 
vacant  chairs.  It  would  redound,  he  sug 
gested,  to  my  credit  to  be  seen  nestling,  as  it 
were,  under  the  metaphorical  wing  of  the 
17 


THE   ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

party  in  white  flannel.  With  this  I  departed 
full  of  sorrow. 

The  few  whites  who  monopolized  the  busi 
ness  of  the  island  seemed  to  recognize  me  at 
once  as  an  intruder.  My  landlord  requested 
all  payments  in  advance;  other  letters  of  in 
troduction  were  presented  with  diffidence  and 
received  with  strictly  polite  disinterest.  A 
week  passed;  a  week  in  which  I  played  my 
part  cunningly.  There  was  a  deep  design  in 
this  assumption  of  genteel  repose.  I  repulsed 
the  native  by  request— God  knows  it  was 
against  my  nature !  I  wasted  my  substance  in 
a  living  which  was  very  far  from  being  riot 
ous;  I  cried  out  to  my  palm,  my  bean  jungle, 
my  banana  and  my  bread-fruit  tree  to  shelter 
me  from  the  fate  that  was  imminent  and  in 
evitable;  I  dozed  in  the  heat  of  the  day,  and 
disgust  was  my  bedfellow;  I  passed  wakeful 
nights,  and  rose  from  the  tedious  couch,  which 
could  be  mine  but  a  few  hours  longer,  and 
alone  I  paced  the  streets  of  that  tropical  town, 
deaf  as  an  adder.  Allow  me  to  repeat  it,  I  was 
deaf  as  an  adder. 

It  would  seem  that  all  hopes  of  success  in 

life  depended  upon  this  infirmity.     What  if 

the  gentleman  in  white  flannel  should  discover 

me  yielding  for  a  moment  to  the  seductions  of 

18 


THE   ISLAND    OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

the  climate?  I  say  the  climate.  The  climate 
of  the  Spice  Islands  is  seductive !  What  if  the 
first  citizen,  and  the  second  citizen,  and  the 
third  citizen  should  meet  at  the  French  res 
taurant,  where  the  chorus  of  citizens  joins 
them  at  four  P.  M.  to  take  roasts,  and  bro- 
chettes,  and  claret  and  black  coffee,  and  to  sit 
there  feasting  until  sunset,  when  the  island 
and  the  sea  are  consumed  in  splendor,  and  all 
the  children  of  nature  stand  upon  the  shore 
like  angels— minus  the  harp,  and  the  crown, 
and  the  seamless  garment — singing  as  if  their 
hearts  would  burst. 

Great  Jove !  What  if  the  first  citizen  should 
say,  "But  I  saw  him  with  these  eyes,  and  she 
bewitched  him  with  her  song!"  and  the  sec 
ond  citizen,  "To  be  sure  the  charmers  were 
charming  never  so  wisely,  and  it  is  too  evi 
dent  that  he  has  no  moral  courage;"  and  the 
third  citizen,  with  confidence,  chipping  in 
with  his,  "What  is  it  that  it  should  go  about 
the  streets  mourning  at  the  hours  when  we 
slumber?"  and  the  chorus,  sotto  voce,  "Dis 
gusting!  Who  ever  heard  the  like?  Posi 
tively  beastly!"  for  this  reason  and  this  rea 
son  only,  did  I  hang  upon  the  edge  of  the  vil 
lage  and  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the  seductive 
welcome  that  was  freely  extended  to  me  by  the 
19 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

ever   frank    and    ever  fond  native  inhabit 
ants 

Yet  my  aimless  pilgrimages  did  not  end 
without  adventure.  Was  I  not  seized  bodily 
one  night,  one  glorious  night  and  borne  out  of 
a  mountain  fastness  whither  I  had  fled  to 
escape  the  sight  of  my  own  race?  Was  I  not 
borne  down  the  ravine  by  a  young  giant,  sleek 
and  supple  as  a  bronzed  Greek  god,  who  held 
me  captive  in  his  Indian  lodge  till  I  surfeited 
on  bread-fruits  and  plaintain  and  cocoanut 
milk  ?  And  then  did  we  not  part  with  a  pang 
—one  of  those  pangs  that  always  leave  a 
memory  and  a  scar?  And  this  happened  not 
once,  but  often;  for  the  representative  of  the 
great  Republic  whose  Consular  duty  it  was  to 
protect  the  rights,  commerce,  merchants  and 
resources  of  the  State,  and  to  aid  in  any  com 
mercial  transactions,  etc.— see  Webster's  Dic 
tionary,  Unabridged— he  cut  me  when  he  was 
in  the  company  of  revelers ;  he  doubted  my  in 
tegrity  ;  he  condemned  me  to  a  kind  of  slavery, 
the  results  of  which  experience  are  an  indelible 
blot  in  the  bone-bound  volume  of  my  memory. 
With  a  word  he  could  have  let  down  the  bars 
to  the  primrose  path  of  dalliance— not  that  I 
care  a  hang  for  primroses;  he  could  have 
righted  my  wrongs,  made  wise  the  simple,  and 
20 


THE   ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

it  wouldn't  have  cost  him  a  cent  either.  That 
word  he  withheld,  and  like  a  stag  at  bay,  I  at 
last  defied  him. 

Then  a  voice  said  unto  me,  "Let  us  go 
hence. ' '  Blinded,  heart-sick,  foot-sore,  I  went 
out  into  the  green  gardens  of  that  summer 
island  like  a  new  Adam  whose  sins  had  been 
forgiven  him  and  who  once  more  found  him 
self  alone  in  Eden.  The  past  he  had  forgotten, 
this  new  Adam,  in  the  beauty  of  the  Eden  of 
his  infantile  innocence.  Now  the  World,  the 
Flesh,  and  the  Serpent  who  had  introduced  him 
to  them,  were  as  a  dream  that  is  dreamed  and 
a  pretty  bad  one  at  that.  With  steps  that 
seemed  to  have  grown  youthful  and  a  heart 
that  was  uplifted  with  a  new  joy  in  the  life 
to  come,  I  threaded  the  streams  that  flowed 
from  the  hidden  heights  of  Fautaua  like  throb 
bing  veins  of  silver.  It  no  longer  mattered 
to  me  whither  I  wandered.  At  last  I  was  my 
own  master  and  he  who  is  his  own  master  is 
master  of  the  world. 

So  dense  was  the  wood  through  which  the 
stream  struggled  that  one  might  almost  have 
traversed  the  length  and  breadth  of  it  by 
swinging  from  bough  to  bough.  It  was  easier 
to  ford  it  and  with  my  nether  garments  worn 
as  a  vestment  upon  my  shoulders  I  set  forth 
21 


THE   ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

bravely  with  naked  but  unfaltering  feet ;  had 
not  my  kingdom  come?  Was  I  not  alone  in 
this  silvan  solitude? 

The  shyest  and  the  least  traveled  of  poets, 
whose  sport  was  the  taming  of  hare  and  whose 
wildest  dissipation  was  a  chastely-platonic  af 
fection,  a  feminine  fondness  for  letter-writing 
and  the  indulgence  of  the  emotions  at  the 
almost-too-frequent  prayer-meeting  could  yet 
abandon  himself  to  the  rhyming  of  Selkirk's 
soliloquy : 

"  I  am  monarch  of  all  I  survey, 
My  right  there  is  none  to  dispute, 
From  the  center  all  round  to  the  Sea 
I  am  Lord  of  the  fowl  and  the  brute." 

There  is  a  suggestion  of  brogue  at  the  termi 
nation  of  line  third— but  no  matter. 

I  was  monarch  of  all  I  surveyed  for  I  could 
no  longer  see  the  Consulate  or  the  Consul  or 
any  of  his  retinue ;  I  had  no  longer  to  assume 
a  virtue  which  I  have  ever  found  it  next  to 
impossible  to  live  up  to :  I  was  not  waiting  as 
those  wait  to  whom  all  things  come— when 
they  are  considerably  overdue. 

Was  ever  a  wood  more  silent  save  for  the 
brawling  of  the  brook?  No  birds,  no  beasts, 
no  fish  to  flash  their  silver  or  gold  or  peacock- 
green  scales  at  me  and  tickle  me  with  their 
22 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

fins.  I  might  add  no  breeze,  no  breath  of  air 
and  I  every  moment  growing  hot  and  moist. 
My  mantle— what  was  left  of  it— descended 
upon  a  world  that  had  no  use  for  it:  I  was  a 
child  of  nature  again  and  so  very,  very  glad 
of  it. 

Suddenly  the  voice  of  the  water  was  hushed ; 
it  flowed  noiselessly  past  me  as  I  ascended  the 
stream ;  it  was  cool  as  the  dew  of  the  morning ; 
it  was  leaf-stained,  amber-tinted  and  sweeter 
than  honey  in  the  honey-comb.  I  stood  in  mid 
stream  to  worship  it ;  I  gave  thanks  that  I  had 
lived  to  love  it  and  to  revel  in  it  and  to  realize 
that  my  very  soul  was  responding  to  the  ex 
quisite  thrill  of  it.  I  thought  I  heard  voices ! 
Little  shrilling  laughter,  faint  and  far  away ! 
I  had  shaken  the  dust  of  the  town  from  my 
shoes,  such  as  they  were;  I  had  parted  my 
garments,  one  on  each  side  of  me ;  I  had  cast 
myself  in  my  extremity  upon  the  bosom  of 
nature  and  proposed  to  nestle  there  just  as 
long  as  she  would  let  me,  and  yet  at  the  first 
sound  of  a  human  voice,  the  voice  or  voices 
of  one  or  more,  crying  or  laughing  in  the  wil 
derness,  I  had  cried  back  to  them  and  it  wasn't 
a  very  far  cry  after  all.  My  call  came  down 
to  me  again  and  again,  fainter  and  fainter 
until  it  had  died  utterly  away— but  it  was 
23 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

only  my  voice  or  the  echo  of  it,  and  not  an 
other's;  and  then  a  great  silence  struck  all 
nature  dumb.  I  hurried  forward  seized  with 
a  kind  of  fear.  Was  it  an  isle  of  voices  1  Were 
they  wood  nymphs  and  fawns  who  were  lur 
ing  me  to  my  destruction  t  On  I  hastened,  yet 
with  a  kind  of  hesitation  as  one  startled  and 
doubting  his  senses. 

The  stream  curved  softly  about  the  foot  of 
a  bluff;  I  laid  my  hand  upon  the  rocks  to 
steady  me,  for  the  waters  were  deepening  and 
I  knew  not  what  lay  beyond;  a  few  paces 
farther  and  with  steady  stroke  I  swam  into  the 
depths  of  a  pool  that  might  have  been  the 
haunt  of  naiads,  the  well-spring  of  mystery 
profound. 

It  lay  within  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock; 
its  margin  was  cushioned  with  moss  and  fern ; 
vines  fell  from  the  cornice  of  the  cliff  veiling 
it  with  a  veil  woven  of  flower  and  leaf ;  flower 
ing  trees  waved  their  branches  over  it,  and  the 
bright  sky  above,  with  its  changeful  broidery 
of  cloud,  was  reflected  in  the  depths  of  the 
pool  that  shimmered  like  the  lambent  flame  of 

an  opal. 

I  swam  as  one  inspired— as  the  fish  swims, 
fanning  itself  with  wings    that    quiver    in 
ecstasy— and  feeling  every  curve  of  my  limbs 
24 


THE    ISLAND    OP    TRANQUIL    DELIGHTS 

athrill  with  a  new  born  grace;  I  soared  in 
great  circles  as  the  bird  soars,  for  the  mere 
pleasure  of  hovering  in  space ;  to  cleave  that 
crystal  flood  as  it  was  cleft  when  I  thrust  forth 
my  arms  to  embrace,  as  it  were  the  embodied 
spirit  of  the  place,  was  to  float  between  two 
skies  lost  to  all  the  laws  of  gravitation. 

There  was  a  faint  piping  of  a  bird,  a  liquid 
note,  answered  by  another  and  another.  I 
paused  in  mid-air,  mid-water,  and  listened: 
from  every  side  came  the  wood-notes  wild; 
solos,  duets,  and  quartettes;  and  then  a  glori 
ous  chorus  that  flooded  the  recesses  of  the 
forest  and  held  me  spell  bound— I  was  like 
to  drown.  But  no !  I  was  indeed  thrown  off 
my  guard  and  half  paralyzed  with  rapture 
and  amazement— but  I  was  suffered  not  to 
drown.  There  was  a  stir  among  the  branches ; 
the  leaves  and  vines  were  all  aquiver— was  it 
I  alone,  even  I,  who  had  fluttered  the  dove 
cotes  in  this  Arcady?  I  knew  that  the  birds 
were  few  upon  the  island,  and  not  famed  for 
song  or  plumage ;  yet  here  was  an  invisible 
aviary  most  musical  with  melody  and  that  of 
the  finest.  I  could  not  drown.  Out  of  the 
tremulous  bough  leaped  youths  and  maidens- 
ripe  fruit  they  call  them  over  yonder,  and  they 
were  ripe  indeed;  out  of  the  very  sky  they 
25 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

seemed  to  fall  as  they  dropped  from  the  higher 
heights;  the  curtains  of  the  vine  were  parted 
discovering  others  who  had  been  in  hiding, 
and  these  flew  to  my  rescue  in  all  haste,  for 
by  this  time  I  was  sinking.  Male  and  female 
created  He  them  and  they  came  to  me  one  and 
all  even  as  they  were  created. 

It  seems  such  was  their  pastime  in  the  Gar 
den  of  Eden;  to  hide  at  the  approach  of  an 
intruder  and  then  surprise  him.  They  had 
heard  my  cry,  they  had  hushed  their  laughter 
as  I  drew  near;  then  they  had  mocked  the 
voices  of  the  woodland ;  they  had  enjoyed  my 
innocent,  though  rapturous  gambols,  and  in 
my  last  gasp  they  had  snatclied  me  from  a 
watery  grave.  I  was  saved,  but  to  what  pur 
pose? 

There  is  a  fate  in  Tahiti  that  is  known  only 
to  the  initiated.  I  was  a  stranger  in  their 
midst;  even  the  blind  might  have  seen  that; 
they  pitied  me  for  the  sorrows  I  had  known, 
the  effects  of  which  I  could  not  laugh  away; 
they  pitied  me  again  for  the  sufferings  I  had 
endured  among  the  enlightened  of  the  earth 
and  for  the  indelible  scars  I  bore  in  form  and 
feature,  these  the  unmistakable  evidences  of 
civilization. 

As  they  drew  me  to  shore  their  beautiful 

26 


THE   ISLAND    OP    TRANQUIL    DELIGHTS 

eyes  glowed  with  the  love-light  that  is  kindled 
at  their  birth— the  soft  radiance  of  which  is 
not  extinguished  until  it  is  veiled  in  death. 
There  were  those  who  would  restore  my  soul 
with  gentle  dalliance;  who  with  deft  fingers 
manipulated  my  body  the  while  they  passed 
pleasantries  from  lip  to  lip  on  the  unlovely 
whiteness  of  skin. 

"I  am  black  but  I  am  beautiful"  sang  the 
singer  of  the  Song  of  Songs  and  he  knew 
whereof  he  sang  for  was  he  not  inspired! 

They  were  not  black  but  they  were  beauti 
ful;  they  were  not  even  brown  for  all  their 
beauty;  they  were  olive-tinted  and  this  tint 
was  of  the  tenderest  olive;  of  the  olive  that 
has  a  shade  of  gold  in  it  like  a  honey-comb 
that  has  entangled  a  sunbeam  and  is  therewith 
transfigured ;  and  some  were  of  a  softer  shade 
as  if  the  film  of  a  shadow  had  fallen  upon 
them  and  would  not  away  again— for  these 
were  children  of  the  sun  and  he  had  set  his 
seal  upon  them  forever.  They  were  all  busy 
as  bees  in  a  June  garden ;  the  youths  vanished 
for  a  moment  but  returned  again  bringing 
their  sheaves  with  them,  arms  full  of  blossoms 
that  made  me  faint  with  their  fragrance. 
These  were  showered  upon  the  maidens  with 
song  and  laughter  and  they,  carrying  the 
27 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

burden  of  the  song  as  the  hum  of  a  hive  of 
bees,  wove  the  flowers  into  necklaces,  and 
girdles  and  into  a  chain  that  seemed  endless 
and  all  the  while  I  was  silently  wondering 
why.  In  the  course  of  time  it  was  completed, 
the  endless  chain  of  flower;  then  they  all  rose 
as  for  a  ceremonial— these  human,  most  hu 
man  flowers-of-flesh,  and  I  was  lifted  from 
the  bank  of  moss  where  I  had  been  reclining 
like  one  in  a  dream  and  being  escorted  by  the 
leaders  of  the  party— a  chief  and  chief  ess  as 
was  evidenced  by  the  deference  paid  them— at 
a  signal  from  these,  we  were  laden  with  neck 
laces  and  girdles  of  flowers,  while  the  chain, 
having  been  encircled  about  us  was  carried 
upon  the  shoulders  of  the  others  and  footing 
it  softly  to  a  rhythmical  chorus  we  passed  into 
a  defile  of  the  mountain. 

The  heart  of  Tahiti  aspires  to  Heaven;  a 
mountain  like  a  pyramid  with  its  foot  in  the 
sea,  a  girdle  of  cloud  about  its  loins  native- 
fashion,  and  its  head  among  the  stars,  is  the 
first  object  that  arrests  the  attention  of  the 
wreary  mariner  and  with  kindling  eye  he 
blesses  the  favoring  gale  that  wafts  him 
hitherward. 

Upon  the  summit  of  the  mountain  is  a  lake, 
the  incomparable  jewel  in  its  crown.  From 
28 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

this  center  the  island  is  divided  into  equal 
portions,  like  an  orange,  but  the  divisions  are 
without  a  visible  border  line  and  only  the  local 
governor  of  each  district  knows  or  cares  much 
just  when  his  rule  ends  and  that  of  his  neigh 
bor  begins. 

There  is  a  law  that  prevails  throughout  the 
island-world  of  the  Pacific,  to  the  effect  that 
the  celebrated  cup-of-song-and-story  shall  not 
cheer  under  any  circumstances  within  the  lati 
tude  or  longitude  of  the  missionary  realm. 
"Tis  a  wise  law  that  knows  its  own  children 
and  all  would  be  well  if  only  the  law-makers 
•were  not  themselves  law-breakers.  However 
the  children  of  Nature  are  a  law  unto  them 
selves  and  with  them  necessity  has  become  the 
mother  of  a  numerous  progeny. 

The  child  of  Nature  can  plunge  his  arm  into 
the  jungle  and  pluck  from  out  it  a  leaf  or  a 
flower  or  a  fruit  or  a  root  from  which  he  will 
express  a  nectar  undreamed  of  in  your  phar 
macopoeia.  From  a  root  the  elixir  of  love  and 
of  life ;  from  a  fruit  unwonted  fires  that 
course  the  veins  like  molten  lava  and  fill  the 
brain  with  fancies ;  from  a  leaf  languor  unut 
terable  and  sweet  oblivion. 

These  arts  are  the  arts  of  the  necromancer 
but  they  are  the  birthright  of  the  natural  chil- 
29 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

dren  of  Nature  and  they  have  been  practised 
ever  since  the  world  was  begotten  of  the  ele 
ments. 

Now  these  brews  are  brewed  in  secret  lest 
they  should  suffer  confiscation,  and  it  so  hap 
pens  that  in  course  of  time  many  a  corpulent 
calabash  is  filled  with  sweets  and  many  a 
length  of  bamboo  is  flushed  until  the  end- 
stoppers  are  like  to  fly  and  let  the  fluid  run 
to  waste.  There  is  a  rivalry  among  the  ama 
teur  distillers  of  the  various  districts  as  to 
which  party  shall  brew  the  best  and  the  most 
bountifully  and  not  until  every  receptacle  is 
filled  to  overflowing  does  the  Governor  call  a 
halt.  Then  it  is  whispered  as  softly  as  the 
tell-tale  breeze  that  blows  that  the  Chief  of 
Cray-fishers  begs  the  pleasure  of  the  company 
of  all  those  who  live  for  the  pure  joy  of  living, 
upon  the  heights  by  the  shore  of  the  Lake  of 
the  Skies,  on  the  evening  of  the  twelfth  night 
of  the  moon  that  they  may  follow  in  his  silver 
footsteps  while  they  can.  Then  they  all  steal 
up  into  the  mountain  by  twos  and  threes,  or 
perchance  alone,  lest  they  be  missed  betimes 
and  peradventure  followed  in  hot  haste.  It 
transpired  that  we  were  bound  thither ;  that  I 
was,  as  it  were,  to  be  carried  away  captive 
and  offered  as  a  living  sacrifice  for  aught  I 
30 


THE  ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

knew  upon  the  altar  of  their  gods.  They  were 
as  merry  a  crew  as  ever  danced  airily  under  a 
green-wood  tree ;  a  mob  of  mad-cap  marauders 
—yet  no— not  exactly  that,  for  they  at  least 
were  bidden  to  the  feast  and  I  went  as  a  help 
less  though  willing  hostage. 

Rose-wreathed  bacchantes  tripped  it  gaily 
through  the  forest  aisles,  clothed  in  their  right 
minds,  perhaps,  but  all  hailing  from  the  land 
of  the  barren-fig-tree. 

A  cannibal  feast  might  begin  in  this  wise; 
I  had  never  been  present  at  one ;  yet  I  feared 
not.  They  had  the  gift  and  the  voice  and  the 
eyes  of  love  and  better  is  a  dinner  of  white- 
meat  where  love  is  than  the  stalled  American 
Consul  and  the  pride  of  his  office  therewith. 

Do  I  recall  it  all,  just  as  it  happened,  or 
is  it  only  a  dream?  The  royal  greetings,  the 
ceremonious  salutations,  the  cocoanut  cups 
that  passed  dripping  from  lip  to  lip,  how 
often,  0  !  how  often  ?  The  feast,  the  song,  the 
dance,  that  grew  wilder  and  wilder  and  the 
shouts  of  joy  that  broke  forth  with  the  break 
of  day.  With  the  coming  of  day  came  sleep ; 
day-dreams  they  were,  that  flitted  through 
that  sleep;  if  we  waked  it  was  to  eat  a  little 
or  to  moisten  the  lips  with  the  milk  of  the 
cocoa-tree ;  if  we  ate  and  drank  it  was  that  we 
31 


THE   ISLAND   OP   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

might  sleep  the  better  until  nightfall  for  the 
night  was  another  night,  even  more  musical, 
more  terpsichorean,  more  bibulous  than  the 
last.  There  were  prizes  offered  for  every 
separate  feature  of  the  fete  and  this  fete  was 
but  one  of  the  series;  each  Governor  in  his 
turn  invited  his  neighboring  Governors  and 
so  the  festivities  were  prolonged  until  the  end 
of  the  season,  a  season  that  may  be  said  to  be 
without  beginning  and  without  end. 

I  feel  it  in  my  heart  now,  even  as  I  felt  it 
then,  to  pardon  that  which  verged  dangerously 
upon  the  unpardonable.  I  said  it  is  their 
nature,  it  is  their  natural  right,  it  is  their 
night-off,  it  is  their  native  land.  These  pent-up 
Uticas  must  throw  wide  their  gates  at  inter 
vals  or  their  walls  will  fall.  If,  at  times,  in 
some  cases,  they  almost  exceed  excess,  the 
more's  the  pity  for  when  they  have  returned 
to  civilization  they  shall  put  on  hypocrisy  as  a 
garment  and  pose  as  a  living  lie. 

This  was  their  joy  of  life,  of  living ;  and  the 
love  of  it,  the  lust  for  it,  was  bred  in  the  bone 
or  ever  the  secret  of  their  solitudes  had  been 
trumpeted  to  a  covetous  world  and  the  shadow 
of  Death  descended  upon  the  Isles  of  the 
Sea. 

Ah  me !  The  return  of  tranquillity  and  the 
32 


THE   ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

solemn  retreat  of  the  singers  and  dancers  re 
minded  me  of  my  own  peculiar  case.  Fate  had 
led  me  into  the  hands  of  hospitable  hosts;  it 
was,  alas!  my  fate  to  tear  myself  from  their 
embraces  and  return  to  the  husks  of  adversity 
—and  so  ended  what  is  known  in  that  delec 
table  land  as  an  orange  spree. 

How  long  did  it  last?  How  long  did  I  stay 
there  in  the  mountain  heights  among  the  mys 
teries  undreamed  of  in  that  business  world 
below  ?  Well :  Really,  I  cannot  tell  you.  No 
one  kept  tally  up  yonder ;  and,  as  for  pinning 
me  down  to  so  fine  a  point,  I'd  as  soon  think 
of  some  one  who  had  been  in  Paradise  for  a 
while  suddenly  sitting  up  and  asking: 
"What  time  is  it?" 

I  stayed  on  the  island  until  there  was  neither 
nook  nor  corner  in  the  kingdom  but  I  had 
threaded ;  until  I  could  not  raise  my  eyes  but 
they  met  the  kindly  eyes  of  some  good  fellow 
who  had  befriended  me;  until  we  seemed  to 
have  exhausted  the  tranquil  delights  of  the 
island,  and,  to  tell  the  whole  truth,  it  was  grow 
ing  a  trifle  slow ;  and  then  our  representative, 
still  clothed  in  spotless  flannel,  still  feeling  the 
awful  responsibilities  of  the  United  States  of 
America  centering  upon  him,  stopped  me  short 
in  the  street  one  day  and  said,  abruptly, 
33 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

"Don't  you  think  you  had  better  go  home?" 
I  replied  briefly  that  I  thought  I  had. 

He  told  me  he  was  about  to  take  ship  for 
California,  the  only  real  ship  that  had  been 
in  port  during  his  administration,  and  that  if 
I  would  swear  in  the  presence  of  witnesses 
that  I  would  pay  my  passage  as  soon  as  I  ar 
rived  in  San  Francisco  he  would  bail  me  out 
of  the  island.  I  swore— like  a  trooper. 

It  was  later,  when  we  were  well  at  sea,  when 
we  were  at  last  forced  into  an  acquaintance, 
that  my  hour  came.  Rocking  in  the  doldrums, 
overcome  with  a  kind  of  hollow,  Saturday 
feeling,  I  drew  out  my  trunk  and  emptied  its 
contents  upon  the  deck;  it  is  well  to  air  one's 
luggage  occasionally,  and  mine  was  of  that 
nature  which  would  be  most  likely  to  interest 
a  fellow  who  has  forsworn  the  world  and  re 
tired  to  a  seclusion  for  life.  The  Consul,  who 
hourly  grew  more  friendly,  aided  me  in  this 
arduous  undertaking ;  we  reviewed  the  books ; 
we  admired  the  odds  and  ends,  such  as  one 
likes  to  ornament  one's  room  with;  we  turned 
over  the  albums  of  photographs  and  auto 
graphs;  we  unmasked  the  mystery  of  my 
nature ;  the  cloud  which  had  obscured  my  life 
was  spirited  away;  it  was  discovered  that  we 
had  hosts  of  friends  in  common;  I  grew  in- 
34 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

stantly  and  immensely  in  his  estimation.  Like 
the  night-blooming  cereus,  I  blossomed  with 
such  amazing  rapidity  that  I  instinctively  lis 
tened  for  a  report. 

It  was  well  now.  It  was  even  better  than  I 
had  dared  to  hope.  He  embraced  me  madly; 
he  lavished  upon  me  something  of  the  profits 
of  his  Consular  speculations.  ''Accept,  dear 
boy,"  said  he,  " these  pearls,  a  trifling  sou 
venir  of  our  friendship,"  and  filled  my  palm 
with  the  creamy  seeds  such  as  are  found  in  the 
fisheries  of  the  South  Pacific;  "and  this— and 
this— and  this"— toilet  soaps,  native  cloths 
prettily  plaited  or  radiantly  dyed— as  well  as 
other  trophies. 

Well,  I  was  his  debtor  against  a  will  as  stub 
born  as  a  mule 's ;  and  I  must  return  with  him, 
he  added;  we  had  not  had  half  our  visit  out. 
A  plantation,  one  of  his  own,  was  at  my  dis 
posal;  he  would  institute  a  series  of  feasts; 
we  should  riot,  and  I  could,  if  I  would,  end 
my  days  in  the  island  of  tranquil  delights. 
It  is  this  that  shook  my  faith  in  humanity  to 
its  foundation;  it  is  this  that  has  filled  me 
with  vague  suspicion ;  I  now  instinctively  shy 
at  a  Consul ;  I  studiously  avoid  a  Legation ;  I 
declined  with  secret  horror  the  testimonial 
dinner  tendered  me  on  our  arrival  by  my  fel- 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

low  voyager,  the  deformed  transformed.  Ah, 
my  late  lamented  U.  S.  A.  Consular  friend! 
You  were  a  slow  match  for  me  and  struck  fire 
when  your  hour  was  past.  But  do  you  remem 
ber  that  stubbly  beard  of  mine,  and  how  I 
longed  for  a  barber?  We  were  three  hours 
out  from  port,  and  you  kindly  volunteered 
your  services.  It  was  the  closest  shave  I  ever 
got.  I  really  don't  know  what  the  moral  of 
this  sketch  is— unless  it  be  that  all  Consuls  are 
not  good  barbers. 


36 


ONE  CHEISTMAS  EVE 


ONE  CHRISTMAS  EVE 

E  had  all  been  breathless  waiting  for 
sunset— breathless,  because  there  was  not  a 
breath  of  air  to  breathe.  We  dozed— dozed 
audibly,  some  of  us ;  woke,  yawned,  stole  down 
into  the  deep  path  in  the  wood  at  the  rear  of 
our  thatched  village;  bathed,  yawned  and 
dozed  again,  and  so  the  afternoon  was  slowly 
disposed  of. 

Really  there  was  nothing  else  to  do.  Before 
us  stretched  the  sea,  one  broad  blaze  of  blue 
that  burned  into  the  horizon  sky  line ;  the  shin 
ing  beach  was  a  blaze  of  white  light  that 
sparkled  where  it  was  out  of  reach  of  the  puls 
ing  wave ;  the  water  upon  the  reef  broke  with 
a  hollow  boom  and  laced  itself  with  ribbons  of 
chain-lightning— 0,  but  it  was  splendid!  glori 
ous;— quite  too  glorious  for  human  eye  to  be 
hold;  the  naked  eye,  you  know;  we  were 
mostly  naked  on  that  bit  of  desert  island.  The 
village,  only  one  hut  deep,  ran  up  and  down 
the  shore  as  if  it  were  trying  to  get  out  of  the 
sun  but  of  course  it  was  not;  had  it  really 
wanted  to  shelter  itself  it  might  easily  have 
done  so  by  merely  backing  up  into  the  densely 
leaved  grove  that  came  within  forty  rods  of  it 
39 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

and  covered  the  whole  island  with  deep  and 
fragrant  shadows.  About  a  million  cocoa 
palms— I  like  to  be  exact  in  my  estimates— 
crowded  upon  the  shore  and  reared  their 
plumes  triumphantly  far  aloft  in  the  air ;  they 
were  so  tall,  some  of  them,  that  their  shadow 
—never  very  much  of  a  shadow— seemed  to 
have  been  blown  away  in  the  breeze;  at  any 
rate  it  never  struck  us  to  any  considerable 
extent. 

Well,  all  at  once  the  big,  oval,  red-hot,  cop 
per-colored  sun  went  down  into  the  sea  as  if 
it  had  foundered ;  for  a  little  while  the  waves 
were  like  blood,  and  the  sky  was  a  purple 
canopy,  and  the  reef  hushed  itself  and  sobbed 
softly,  and  all  the  palms  stood  still.  Then, 
suddenly,  a  vail  of  shadow,  pricked  with  a  few 
enormous  stars  fell  over  us— and  evening  had 
come. 

That  is  the  way  evening  always  comes  in 
the  tropics ;  twilight  and  the  afterglow  are  or.e, 
and  so  fervid  is  their  union  they  are  soon  con 
sumed  away. 

A  great  sigh  went  up  from  the  village  at 
sundown;  a  sigh  of  profoundest  relief  that 
was  speedily  followed  by  exclamations  of 
pleasure;  the  long  row  of  huts  gave  forth  its 
tenants  and  each  saluted  the  other  with  the 

40 


ONE   CHRISTMAS   EVE 

love-greeting  of  the  tribe— after  which  and 
with  one  impulse  we  ran  to  the  shore  and 
plunged  into  the  sea,  it  was  like  bathing  in 
wine— no,  it  was  like  bathing  in  milk— for  the 
softest,  milkiest,  silkiest  ripples  lapped  us  all 
over  our  bodies,  and  the  palest,  most  silvery 
luster  suffused  the  face  of  the  waters. 

That  evening  was  like  the  evening  before, 
and  the  evenings  before  that  as  far  back  as 
we  could  remember ;  those  that  were  to  follow 
were  sure  to  be  like  it ;— what  else  could  we  do 
there  save  bathe  and  fish  and  eat  and  sleep 
and  let  the  world  go  by. 

We  were  to  fish  as  usual  this  evening ;  noth 
ing  but  a  hurricane,  could  have  caused  an 
alteration  in  the  programme ;  of  course  we 
took  as  little  heed  of  the  rain  squalls  that  vis 
ited  us  at  frequent  intervals  as  if  we  were  so 
many  canvas-back  ducks ;  the  sun  dries  one  in 
a  moment,  off  yonder  in  the  tropics,  and  the 
rain— like  the  noisy  theatrical  shower  that 
plays  so  effective  a  role  in  the  spectacular 
drama — doesn't  seem  half  as  wet  as  it  should 
be.  But,  come,  the  night  is  passing!  With 
songs  and  rippling  laughter  the  canoes  are 
dragged  down  the  shelving  sand  and  launched 
upon  the  dark  waters  where  they  float  like 
long  curled  plumes;  indeed  there  were  as 
41 


THE   ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

many  stars  in  the  sea  as  in  the  sky,— they 
glowed  like  pearls,— and  the  canoes  seemed 
suspended  in  mid-air— so  transparent  was  the 
nether  element. 

Soon  we  were  all  embarked,  a  fleet  of  shad 
owy  pirates  about  to  ravage  the  deep.  In  the 
bow  of  each  canoe  stood  a  youth  holding  aloft 
a  palm  torch;  the  palm  branch  is  a  natural- 
born  beacon;  it  blazes  wonderfully  when 
lighted  and  trails  a  banner  of  red  flame  a  yard 
long,  as  the  torch  bearer  holds  it  high  over  his 
head ;  there  we  had  a  living  statue  of  Liberty, 
liberty  in  its  broadest  sense,  enlightening  the 
Lagoon!  The  glow  from  those  flaring  palm- 
fronds  made  plainly  visible  every  object  in  the 
waters  under  the  earth. 

Now,  more  than  ever,  it  seemed  as  if  we 
were  drifting  through  space;  the  waters  be 
neath  us  were  like  amber-tinted  air ;  within  it 
sailed  marvelous  fish  of  every  conceivable  form 
and  hue,  and  those  dainty  and  fairy  like  crea 
tures,  bewildered  by  the  torchlight  swam  very 
near  us  in  blind  curiosity.  They  were  too  deli 
cate,  too  brilliantly  beautiful  to  harm;  we 
were  in  search  of  nobler  prey.  It  was  not 
only  the  feathery  finned  small  fry  that  deco 
rated  the  Lagoon;  a  thousand  exquisite  sea 
gardens  blossomed  in  splendor  below  the  tran- 
42 


ONE    CHRISTMAS   EVE 

quil  waves;  and  there  were  coral  bowers  that 
caught  the  light  and  flashed  it  back  from  their 
gilded  tendrils,  and  then  white  stretches  of 
sea-sand  that  shone  like  a  pavement  of  gold. 

There  was  silence  everywhere ;  only  the  low 
music  of  the  reef  and  the  occasional  splash  of 
a  fish  that  had  freed  itself  from  the  spear  and 
dropped  back  into  his  native  element. 

Suddenly  a  shriek  arose!  Our  fleet  was 
stretched  up  and  down  the  shore  like  a  chain 
of  fire;  at  one  end  of  it  there  was  consterna 
tion;  the  torches  were  being  plunged  into  the 
sea  and  the  rowers  were  paddling  swiftly  for 
ward  down  the  coast. 

All  followed  and  when  within  hailing  dis 
tance  word  was  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth, 
but  under  the  breath— ''the  sacred  fish  had 
been  seen  heading  for  the  distant  Point  of 
Palms!" 

Now,  it  is  well  known  that  when  this  mys 
terious  fish  makes  its  appearance— which  he 
does  at  very  uncertain  intervals — something  is 
about  to  take  place;  it  may  be  the  death  of  a 
chief,  or  a  birth;  a  great  misfortune  or  a 
greater  joy.  It  is  an  omen  that  thrills  the 
stoutest  heart,  and  no  wonder  we  were  all  dis 
mayed. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  we  were  bar- 
43 


THE   ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

barians;  we  had  refused  to  be  civilized  and 
our  village  was  looked  upon  in  the  South  Sea 
as  given  over  to  all  manner  of  iniquities.  In 
fact  we  were  as  good  as  we  could  be,  in  our 
way;  we  merely  chose  to  stay  so,  rather  than 
change  our  spots  and  so  our  camp  was  con 
sidered  the  abomination  of  desolation. 

Thus  it  happened  that  our  first  fear  was  that 
the  Sacred  Fish  had  come  to  warn  us  but  he 
was  heading  for  the  Point  of  Palms  and  we 
followed  him  in  fearful  curiosity,  expecting  to 
reach  a  climax  shortly.  We  reached  it ! 

Having  rounded  the  Point  of  Palms  we 
paused  a  moment;  faint  music  was  wafted 
over  the  sea  to  us,  chants  and  joyous  refrains 
and  the  unaccustomed  accompaniment  of 
drums  and  various  instruments.  What  could 
it  mean,  this  rejoicing  at  midnight  and  in  the 
depths  of  the  forest^  Hither  the  Sacred  Fish 
had  piloted  us;  we  drew  our  canoes  ashore, 
where  the  music  seemed  nearest,  and  with  ut 
most  caution  began  threading  the  dark  alleys 
of  the  wood.  The  music  grew  louder  and 
louder;  arrows  of  light  glistened  among  the 
branches  overhead  and,  shortly,  through  an 
opening  we  caught  sight  of  a  rustic  chapel 
thronged  with  worshippers ;  there  was  a  blaze 
of  light  within;  upon  the  high  altar,  sur- 
44 


ONE   CHRISTMAS   EVE 

rounded  by  acolytes  in  picturesque  raiment 
and  with  clouds  of  incense  hovering  over  him, 
the  priest  was  celebrating  the  Holy  Sacrifice 
of  the  Mass. 

We  all  drew  nearer  and  were  warmly  wel 
comed  by  the  throngs  who  could  not  gain  ad 
mission  to  the  chapel,  but  this  mattered  not, 
for  the  building  was  little  more  than  a  roof 
with  hardly  a  side  wall  to  shelter  those  be 
neath  it.  Presently  the  music  ceased ;  the 
priest  turned  toward  us  and  began  a  fervent 
appeal  to  one  and  all.  It  was  the  hour  of  re 
joicing  he  said,  when  the  morning  stars  sang 
together,  and  the  Christ-child  was  born  in 
glory,  though  cradled  in  a  manger.  The 
Christ-child !  we  had  not  thought  of  this ;  most 
of  us  knew  nothing  of  it ;  to  us,  all  days  and 
all  seasons  were  alike— even  their  names  and 
their  significance  were  forgotten  or  unheeded 
by  us. 

Again  the  music  poured  forth  and  awoke 
glorious  echoes  in  the  solemn  wood  and  some 
how  we  found  ourselves  uniting  in  the  chorus, 
and  hymning  the  glad  tidings  of  great  joy. 
The  day  that  followed  was  a  feast  such  as  we 
had  never  yet  partaken  of,  and  what  was  the 
fruit  thereof?  Did  we  return  to  barbarism, 
think  you?  Or  had  our  eyes  seen  and  our 
45 


THE   ISLAND   OP   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

ears  heard  and  our  hearts  comprehended  the 
power  and  the  glory  that  prevails  forever  and 
ever  even  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  ? 


46 


ABSENT  BEYOND  SEAS 


ABSENT  BEYOND  SEAS 


XN  the  first  glimmer  of  dawn,  Pemberton 
stole  out  of  the  cabin  and  began  to  pace  the 
deck.  It  was  stuffy  down  below;  he  was  not 
comfortable  in  body;  he  was  not  comfortable 
in  mind.  Had  his  best  friends  seen  him  at 
that  moment  they  might  have  said  that  he  had 
risen  like  a  ghost  from  the  tomb.  And  so 
he  had. 

There  are  tombs  that  are  not  walled  in  with 
clay  or  marble;  there  are  ghosts  that  have  not 
yet  shed  their  fleshly  mantle ;  when  these  arise 
they  rise  from  living  tombs  and  into  them 
they  descend  again  at  the  close  of  the  witch 
ing  hour. 

The  dove-tinted  east  grew  pale ;  a  pink  flush 
suffused  it ;  then  a  scarlet  wave  broke  upon  the 
rim  of  the  horizon ;  beneath  it  the  sea  glowered 
darkly  like  a  thunder  cloud.  This  was  the 
suggestive  background  against  which  Philip 
Pemberton  was  outlined  in  silhouette.  He 
pondered,  leaned  over  the  rail,  fixed  his  gaze 
upon  the  eastern  sky  and  silently  awaited  sun 
rise. 

49 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

For  some  time  the  young  man  watched  the 
ever  recurring,  ever  varying  spectacle;  he 
noted  the  flecks  of  gold  that  anon  spangled  the 
plumed  crests  of  the  waves.  His  face  was 
brightened  with  a  smile  while  the  sun  dazzled 
his  eyes  and  he  thrust  his  hands  into  his 
pockets  as  he  resumed  his  tread  up  and  down 
a  deck  with  which  he  had  grown  familiar  dur 
ing  the  last  few  weeks.  When  he  grew  tired 
of  his  book  and  lost  interest  in  the  cribbage- 
board;  when  conversation  flagged — there  was 
little  of  it  on  board  that  ship  for  he  was  the 
sole  passenger  and  the  nautical  table  talk  had 
begun  to  pall— when  he  had  unbosomed  him 
self  in  a  diary,  the  like  of  which  could  never 
have  been  written  for  himself  alone ;  when  the 
meals  had  been  duly  discussed  and  the  siesta 
had  come  to  an  end,  what  was  there  left  for 
the  disinterested  voyager  to  fly  to  but  the 
deck  and  the  monotonous  beat  which  reminded 
him  of  nothing  so  much  as  the  nervous,  swing 
ing  gait  of  a  caged  animal  forever  seeking 
escape  at  one  end  or  the  other  of  his  prison 
house  1 

There  he  could  lose  himself  in  hour-long 

reveries — memories,  they  were,  for  the    most 

part — and  none  of  his  fellow  sea-farers  were 

aught  the  wiser.  Though  he  was  well-bred  and 

50 


ABSENT   BEYOND   SEAS 

well-groomed  he  was  not  above  suspicion. 
From  the  cabin  to  the  fo'c'sle  he  had  been  a 
subject  of  comment  and  his  silence,  his  polite 
exclusiveness,  were  perhaps  the  cause  of  it 
all.  He  might  as  well  have  been  a  ghost  as 
far  as  every  soul  in  the  ship  was  concerned,  for 
they  knew  as  little  of  him  as  if  he  were  not 
of  this  world,  and  never  had  been.  Not  all 
ghosts  are  as  persistently  communicative  as 
that  of  the  " Royal  Dane;"  nor,  indeed,  had 
he  much  to  impart  that  could  have  especially 
interested  any  listener.  His  story  was  simple 
enough;  a  simple  tale,  guiltless  of  crime  or 
blood  and  without  a  climax,  though  while 
there  is  life  there  is  hope — of  a  climax. 

Philip  Pemberton,  son  of  a  sire  who  boasted 
the  best  blood  in  his  shire,  having  ended  his 
days  at  Oxford  in  a  creditable  manner  and  to 
the  entire  satisfaction  .of  his  hearty,  healthy 
and  somewhat  haughty  family,  announced,  to 
the  horror  of  some  and  the  surprise  of  all,  that 
he  was  in  love.  His  was  not  a  case  of  love  at 
first  sight,  nor  a  night-blooming  cereus  affair 
that  may  be  predicted  almost  to  the  moment  of 
its  sudden  consummation  and  whose  hours  are 
numbered  in  all  their  splendor. 

Philip's  three  and  twenty  years  were  calm 
enough  and  deliberate  enough  to  have  set  the 
51 


THE  ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL  DELIGHTS 

paternal  and  maternal  mind  at  rest.  An  only 
son,  an  only  child,  they  never  had  just  cause 
for  uneasiness  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  had 
they  but  known  it.  But  parents  seldom  know 
these  things.  Blindly  they  beget  and  blindly 
they  bury  and  who  is  there  of  them  all  who 
knows  as  much  of  one  as  one  knows  of  one's 
self. 

Philip  had  met  and  liked  a  daughter  of  the 
people ;  they  had  met  again  and  again  and  he 
had  learned  to  love  her.  They  had  not  plighted 
their  troth  in  secret ;  there  was  no  element  of 
romance  in  their  mutual  attachment.  Their 
love  was  calm  and  deep  and  pure  and  sweet 
and  noble;  a  love  that  grew  slowly  and 
healthily  and  holily.  It  was  all  in  all  to  them, 
though  they  never  named  it.  It  was  the  most 
ingenuous,  the  most  innocuous  of  loves ;  a  love 
without  an  arrow  to  his  bow,  or  quiver  to  his 
back;  whose  eyes  were  not  blinded  but  whose 
wings  were  locked. 

She  was  neither  milking  maid  nor  lass  o' 
the  loom,  but  his  father  and  his  mother  would 
none  of  her.  He  had  told  them  all  in  dis 
passionate  English  such  as  they  might  well 
approve  of,  how  there  had  been  no  stolen  in 
terviews,  no  secrecy,  no  vows;  nothing  from 
first  to  last  but  blameless  love  and  perfect 
52 


ABSENT   BEYOND   SEAS 

trust  and  patience  to  await  the  hour  when  they 
were  free  to  ask  the  blessing  of  the  fathers  and 
the  God  of  their  fathers  on  the  union  which 
should  perfect  both  their  lives.  That  blessing 
was  withheld ;  not  in  sorrow,  nor  in  anger,  but 
after  due  deliberation  and  with  an  expression 
of  the  hope  that  time  would  settle  the  vexed 
question  and  enable  all  to  see  with  unclouded 
vision  just  what  was  best  for  each. 

It  was  decided  that  matters  should  be  al 
lowed  to  rest  a  season;  that  Philip's  Phillis. 
should  be  permitted  to  retain  the  recently 
awakened  interest  of  Philip's  people;  that 
their  respect  and  even  their  esteem  should  be 
added  to  this ;  and  that  Philip  should  by  way 
of  putting  the  finishing  touch  to  the  education 
which  he  fancied  he  had  completed,  undertake 
a  sea  voyage  and  discover  if  possible  in  dis-. 
tant  parts  undreamed-of  treasures.  From 
Philip's  point  of  view  this  was  the  reward  of 
virtue,  a  reward  he  did  not  covet.  The  par 
ents  of  Philip  hoped  and  prayed  that  a  change 
of  scene  might  wean  him  from  a  love  that 
seemed  to  them  difficult  if  not  dangerous. 

In  Ariel's  song  "a  sea  change"  is  followed 

by  "something  rich  and  strange. "    Philip  was 

prepared     to    weigh    the    richness    and     the 

strangeness  in  the  balance  when  he  came  to 

53 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

port,  took  ship  and  sailed  away;  and  so  the 
almost  endless  procession  of  the  days  passed 
on,  and  between  the  sunrise  and  the  sunset 
there  was  ever  the  same  picture  of  the  past  re 
viewed,  and  from  sunset  to  sunrise  the  same 
dream  of  the  future  was  dreamed  again. 

Pemberton's  one  wish,  one  hope,  one  prayer 
was  for  a  sight  of  the  longed-for  land  in  that 
measureless  expanse  of  sea.  The  gales  were 
soft  and  sweet;  sometimes  the  faintest  fra 
grance  was  perceptible,  or  a  panting  land  bird 
fluttered  to  the  deck  as  they  sailed  under  the 
lee  of  some  invisible  island.  But  of  all  the 
islands  that  litter  those  southern  seas  like 
fallen  leaves  there  was  but  one  he  yearned 
most  to  see.  It  was  that  small  earthly  Para 
dise  where  they  were  to  drop  anchor  for  awhile 
and  wThere  he  was  to  look  for  letters,  the  first 
news  from  home.  Letters  might  easily  over 
take  him.  While  he  was  blown  hither  and  yon 
by  all  the  winds  of  heaven,  a  mail  was  easily 
transported  by  steam  over  land  and  sea  and 
thus  comparatively  late  news  was  sure  to  greet 
him  on  his  arrival.  With  every  dawn  he  said 
"there  is  one  night  less  on  board,"  and  with 
every  twilight ' '  we  are  one  day  nearer  shore ; ' ' 
and  so,  slowly,  very  slowly,  but  nevertheless 
surely,  the  world-wide  voyage  and  the  heart- 
54 


ABSENT   BEYOND    SEAS 

ache  of  suspense  were  together  drawing  to  a 
close. 


II 


To  sight  land  after  a  long  sea  voyage  is  like 
waking  from  a  dreamless  sleep.  It  is  also  like 
dreaming  a  new  dream,  a  dream  that  is  coming 
true  and  really,  after  all  is  said,  there  is  noth 
ing  else  like  it  in  the  whole  world.  Impossi 
bilities  seem  suddenly  to  become  possible. 
What  was  uncertain  an  hour  ago  is  now  a  cer 
tainty.  The  eyes  dance  with  joyous  expecta 
tion  ;  the  heart  is  filled  with  satisfaction ;  every 
nerve  tingles  with  delightful  anticipation  and 
the  last  hope  is  realized. 

In  such  an  hour  we  know  how  Columbus  felt 
when  he  fell  upon  his  knees  in  a  prayer  of 
gratitude  at  the  cry  of  *  *  Land  Ho ! ' ' 

There  was  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth 
for  Pemberton.  There  was  a  shining  shore 
growing  broader  and  more  beautiful  every 
hour.  There  was  a  wealth  of  fascinating  de 
tail  making  itself  clearer  and  better  defined 
in  a  landscape  as  new  to  him  as  if  it  were 
the  first  day  of  creation — or  the  sixth  if  you 
will— and  he,  Philip  Pemberton,  alone,  like 
Adam,  were  the  first  man  viewing  it  all  with 
55 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

a  certain  indescribable  sense  of  proprietorship 
— and  pronouncing  it  good. 

Such  egoists  are  we  when  our  hearts  and 
souls  are  bent  upon  our  own  affairs;  and  we 
feel  as  if  for  us  were  created  all  things  that 
were  created  from  the  least  unto  the  greatest. 

Letters !  News  from  home  on  the  other  side 
of  the  world.  Letters  telling  of  what  hap 
pened  when  he  had  gone  and  they  no  longer 
saw  him,  or  heard  the  lessening  rumble  of  the 
train  that  was  bearing  him  away  to  the  port 
from  which  he  sailed.  Letters  from  her  from 
whom  he  had  parted  with  a  pang  such  as  he 
had  never  before  experienced,  and  whose  last 
words  and  last  look  had  haunted  him  from 
that  day  to  this.  Letters  that  had  hurried 
over  seas  and  over  a  continent,  as  across  lots, 
and  were  now  awaiting  him  there  in  the  primi 
tive  postoffice  which  was  the  village  forum  and 
the  centre  and  source  of  all  gossip  and  all  gos 
pel,  whether  true  or  false.  His  letters,  his 
very  own,  with  seals  unbroken  waiting  for  him 
to  break  them  and  read,  breathlessly,  the  glad 
tidings— clutched  in  his  trembling  hands ! 

Ah  me !     The  joy  of  it ! 

Well:  There  they  were;  two,  three,  a  half 
dozen;  he  read  the  superscriptions  over  and 
over;  father's,  mother's— three  from  the  ma- 
56 


ABSENT   BEYOND   SEAS 

ternal  pen— two  from  college  chums.  No  let 
ter  from  her!  He  read  again  the  familiar 
chirography;  mother,  father,  again  mother, 
chum,  chum  and  mother  once  again.  None, 
not  one  from  her! 

He  had  found  a  little  two-roomed  cottage,  a 
bungalow,  where  he  was  to  lodge  for  the  time 
being.  It  was  a  bower-like  structure  in  the 
corner  of  the  hotel  grounds,  a  latticed  cage 
suitable  to  the  climate.  He  went  thither  with 
a  new  worry  born  of  his  first  half-hour  on 
shore.  The  father's  letter  was  businesslike, 
bidding  him  not  repine  but  be  brave  and 
manly  as  befitted  the  heir  of  the  house  of  Pem- 
berton,  and  to  hope  for  the  best.  He  caught 
his  breath  and  broke  the  seal  of  his  mother's 
first  letter.  Phillis  was  ill,  she  wrote ;  not  seri 
ously  ill,  but  ill  enough  to  cause  them  all  some 
little  anxiety.  A  second  letter  written  two 
weeks  later :  Phillis  was  no  better ;  in  fact  she 
was  if  anything  somewhat  worse.  And  then 
toward  the  end  of  the  letter,  which  was  writ 
ten  from  time  to  time  in  the  manner  of  a  diary, 
she  was  growing  still  worse,  rapidly  worse; 
there  was  little  or  no  hope  for  her. 

The  message  fell  from  Pemberton  's  hand ;  he 
was  trembling  and  laid  hold  of  the  table  by 
which  he  sat,  to  steady  himself.  He  was  not 
57 


THE   ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

a  demonstrative  man ;  he  never  in  his  life  did 
anything  in  a  spectacular  way;  his  emotions 
were  strong  and  deep  but  they  were  usually 
well  under  restraint.  He  was  beginning  to 
lose  his  self  control  and  he  flushed  when  he 
realized  it.  His  throat  thickened  and  seemed 
about  to  close ;  he  breathed  with  difficulty ;  he 
felt  that  he  must  call  upon  some  one  for  help 
—but  he  must  know  the  worst  before  he  gave 
way  to  this— this  agony ! 

The  last  letter  from  his  mother  was  in  his 
hand;  he  opened  it  clumsily;  it  was  torn  be 
fore  he  had  succeeded  in  reading  it,  and  but 
half  comprehending  the  Avords — "The  Lord 
giveth  and  the  Lord  taketh  away" — "His  will 
be  done" — Philip  Pemberton  sank  sidewise  in 
his  chair  and  fell  in  a  lifeless  heap  upon  the 
floor. 


Ill 


When  he  awoke  to  consciousness  he  was 
lying  in  a  bed  that  was  white  and  cool ;  there 
were  curtains  of  gauze  all  about  him.  The 
bed  was  an  old-fashioned  four-poster  with  a 
canopy,  and  it  stood  nearly  in  the  centre  of  a 
large  room.  Deep  windows  opened  upon  a 
wide  veranda;  the  tips  of  banana  leaves 
53 


ABSENT   BEYOND   SEAS 

swayed  along  the  edge  of  the  veranda  and 
vines  hung  their  airy  hammocks  under  the 
eaves  above.  There  was  the  sound  of  the  sea 
and  a  glimpse  of  it — an  azure  rim  that  seemed 
but  a  darker  sky ;  between  it  and  the  veranda 
was  a  hanging  garden  of  tree-tops  plumed 
with  towering  palms.  There  was  little  furni 
ture  in  the  chamber— it  was  evidently  an 
upper  chamber— and  there  was  no  one  there 
but  himself.  With  mild  curiosity  he  won 
dered  where  he  was.  The  past  seemed  to  have 
been  forgotten,  and  it  was  perhaps  a  matter 
of  indifference  to  one  who  was  so  weary  as  he. 
He  turned  his  cheek  to  the  pillow  and  dozed 
again. 

By  and  by  he  awoke;  probably  he  was 
awakened,  for  a  woman  was  bending  over  him. 
Her  eyes  were  humid ;  he  could  not  remember 
having  seen  such  eyes  before;  the  whites  of 
the  eyes  had  the  sheen  of  pearl ;  she  was  liter 
ally  turbaned  with  glossy  ropes  of  hair  that 
cast  a  twilight  shade  over  a  brow  of  purest 
olive;  full  ripe  lips,  now  parting  in  a  smile, 
disclosed  teeth  that  were  in  themselves  a  smile. 
The  robe  she  wore  adapted  itself  to  the  grace 
ful  curves  of  her  body  as  if  she  were  another 
Galatea  breathing  her  first  breath  of  life. 
From  her  he  learned  the  missing  chapter  in 
59 


THE    ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL    DELIGHTS 

the  story  of  his  life.  It  was  a  brief  chapter, 
musically  recited  in  very  good  English;  his 
nurse,  a  native,  had  been  educated  in  the  mis 
sion  school  at  the  outskirts  of  the  village,  and 
this  was  all  she  knew  of  the  world,  yet  in  the 
dusk  she  might  easily  have  been  mistaken  for 
the  most  charming  of  Europeans.  Social 
' '  airs  and  graces, ' '  innate  refinement  and  con 
summate  tact,  are  the  birthright  of  the  south- 
sea  savage.  As  for  Pemberton,  some  one  in 
passing  the  open  door  of  his  cottage  saw  him 
lying  upon  the  floor.  The  alarm  was  given, 
a  physician  summoned,  for  he  was  still  un 
conscious,  and  by  the  advice  of  the  medico 
who  had  not  often  so  promising  and  profitable 
a  patient,  he  was  carried  on  a  stretcher  to  an 
airy  chamber  in  a  detached  building  where 
quiet  and  seclusion  were  assured.  He  was 
placed  in  charge  of  Telula,  a  young  woman 
whose  father  was  a  half-caste,  her  mother  a 
native  and  whose  association  with  foreigners 
had  not  as  yet  contaminated  her. 

Pemberton  remained  unconscious  for  some 
hours;  for  several  days  he  drowsed  most  of 
the  time ;  his  waking  moments  found  his  brain 
still  cloudy ;  he  was  indifferent  to  the  presence 
of  his  attendants.  A  weak  heart,  the  Doctor 
said;  a  great  and  sudden  excitement  after  a 
60 


ABSENT   BEYOND   SEAS 

long  mental  strain— it  was  only  natural  that 
he  should  be  slow  in  returning  to  a  normal 
condition. 

He  was  slow  enough.  He  seemed  quite  con- 
tent  to  remain  where  he  was,  to  be  propped  up 
upon  pillows  where  he  could  look  into  the  gar 
den  below  and  off  upon  the  strip  of  blue  sea 
that  stretched  between  the  garden  and  the 
vines  festooning  the  veranda  eaves.  Telula 
was  ever  present  to  talk  to  him,  to  sing  to  him 
those  plaintive  native  songs  that  he  had  grown 
to  like,  to  minister  to  his  every  want — and 
these  were  increasing  as  the  days  went  by. 

The  Doctor  came  to  rally  him,  to  urge  upon 
him  the  necessity  of  getting  up  and  stirring 
about  and  meeting  nature  half-way  in  her 
effort  to  restore  him  to  health.  There  were 
jolly  excursions  to  be  made  by  land  and  sea, 
lovely  places  to  be  visited,  a  new  life  in  a 
new  land  for  him  to  see  and  enjoy.  Why 
longer  waste  his  time  in  idleness  when  there 
was  so  much  of  interest  at  hand  awaiting  him? 

He  had  written  home ;  written  that  his  plans 
had  come  to  naught ;  that  he  had  no  wish  to  go 
further  and  if  possible  fare  worse ;  that  he  pro 
posed  to  remain  where  he  was  for  the  present ; 
there  was  time  enough  for  him  to  plan  anew. 
He  was  of  age;  he  was  possessed  of  means 
61 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

enough  to  make  him  independent  of  the  world. 
At  present  no  place  attracted  more  than  the 
spot  in  which  he  chanced  to  be.  Why  not  stay 
just  where  he  was  until  the  spirit  of  unrest 
should  urge  him  hence.  Then  would  be  time 
enough  to  think  seriously  of  moving  on.  So 
he  stayed  there,  and  stayed,  and  stayed. 


IV 


It  was  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world 
for  him  to  stay  as  he  stayed,  and  to  do  what 
he  did.  He  saw  all  the  length  and  breadth  of 
the  island;  he  camped  on  a  mountain  top  so 
that  he  might  watch  the  sun  rise  from  the  sea 
some  time  before  it  was  visible  from  the  east 
ern  valleys  and  shore.  He  explored  the  ver 
dant  recesses  of  those  valleys,  tracked  streams 
to  their  hidden  sources,  bathed  in  shadow-shel 
tered  highland-pools  where  the  water  was  as 
the  water  of  life ;  and  with  canoe  and  paddle 
and  an  amphibious  native  pilot  learned  all  the 
secrets  of  that  summer  sea. 

And  what  was  the    natural    consequence? 

What  could,  would,  should  it  not  fail  to  be? 

He  did  as  the  others  did,  the  others  without 

exception.    It  was,  is,  ever  shall  be  the  custom 

62 


ABSENT   BEYOND   SEAS 

of  the  country.  Latitude  and  longitude  may 
have  something  to  do  with  it,  but  in  any  case 
we  know  well  enough  that  it  is  written,  * '  Can 
the  Ethiopian  change  his  skin,  or  the  leopard 
his  spots?"  Nay,  nay,  not  though  they  be 
scattered  as  the  stubble  that  passeth  away; 
not  though  the  wind  of  the  wilderness  scat- 
tereth  them.  He  did  even  as  they  all  did, 
for  it  was  the  custom  of  the  country. 


It  was  a  pretty  pastoral.  The  bungalow 
stood  upon  a  plateau  above  the  sea.  From  the 
wide  veranda— where  one  ate  and  even  slept 
in  the  hot  nights  when  the  wind  was  low— 
half  the  island  shore  was  visible.  To  the  left, 
at  the  end  of  a  winding  trail  lay  the  port ;  at 
intervals  when  the  wind  was  favorable  one 
heard  the  chapel  bell  calling  to  prayer.  On 
the  right  hand  the  wilderness  that  girdled  the 
island,  save  where  it  was  broken  by  plantation 
openings,  invited  the  curious  foot  of  the  ex 
plorer.  It  was  a  mystery,  fragrant,  flowery, 
the  lair  of  the  eternal  summer.  All  else  was 
sea  and  sky;  the  sea  that  turned  a  thousand 
faces  to  the  sun  and  cloud;  that  sang  with  a 
63 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

thousand  voices  night  and  day ;  that  one  could 
watch  forever  and  listen  to  without  a  thought 
of  wearying,  for  its  song  was  ever  varying, 
ever  vague. 

Telula  was  listening  to  the  song  of  the  sea; 
she  had  been  sitting  on  a  couch  on  the  veranda 
lost  in  reverie;  at  her  feet  two  children  were 
playing  with  a  tame  bird,  feeding  it  with  flies 
which  they  caught  expertly.  Pemberton  stood 
watching  the  children;  his  eye  glanced  from 
them  to  their  mother  as  she  dreamed  her  day 
dream  of  her  darlings  and  their  future.  For 
eight  years  this  household  had  been  the  abode 
of  peace;  of  peace  that  is  born  of  pleasant 
weather  and  uneventful  days.  They  had 
never  known  want  under  that  roof.  Their  de 
sires  were  few  and  easily  gratified.  Telula 
had  no  knowledge  of  any  other  life  than  this; 
she  had  read  of  other  peoples  and  other  lands 
but  from  her  point  of  view  they  were  as  fairy 
tales  of  fairy  lands  and  she  never  looked  upon 
them  as  realities. 

Pemberton  had  fallen  into  an  easy  rut  and 
had  grown  so  used  to  it  that  a  break  in  the 
monotony  of  his  daily,  weekly,  monthly,  yearly 
round  would  have  jarred  upon  him  a  little. 
That  is  the  rule  there ;  one  becomes  acclimated 
and  then  any  unusual  change  in  the  weather 

C4 


ABSENT  BEYOND   SEAS 

upsets  one's  system.  It  was  only  now,  only 
within  the  last  few  months  or  weeks— he  no 
longer  measured  time  with  any  accuracy— 
that  he  had  begun  to  think  seriously  of  the 
welfare  of  these  children.  They  were  born 
in  that  house  and  had  thrived  there,  but  they 
could  not  be  allowed  to  remain  there  indefi 
nitely.  They  needed  such  mental  training  as 
could  not  be  found  at  the  mission  school.  Te- 
lula  had  flourished  there,  but  these  children 
were  three-fourths  white— or  a  little  less  for 
their  mother  was  three-fourths  native.  They 
might  not  always  remain  upon  this  island.  He 
began  to  realize  that  it  was  his  duty  as  a  father 
to  provide  for  them  as  his  children  should  be 
provided  for.  But  how  ?  He  could  take  them 
to  New  Zealand  and  place  them  at  schools 
where  they  should  remain  until  their  schooling 
was  completed.  What  else?  Nothing!  Hav 
ing  found  them  well  disposed  he  could  return 
to  England  and  visit  the  parents  who  had 
long  been  entreating  him  to  return.  They 
knew  nothing  of  his  domestic  affairs,  they  need 
not  know ;  they  could  not  comprehend  the  con 
ditions  even  if  they  were  vouchsafed  an  ex 
planation.  The  tropics  are  beyond  the  com 
prehension  of  those  who  have  been  born  and 
bred  in  the  temperate  zone— unless  in  the 
65 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL  DELIGHTS 

course  of  their  travels  they  have  become  ac 
climated. 

Pemberton  had  resolved  that  he  would  pro 
vide  for  his  children,  as  a  parent  should,  and, 
having  spent  a  little  season  at  the  old  home 
would  return  to  Telula  and  resume  the  life 
which  now  most  appealed  to  his  indolent 
nature. 

By  and  by  the  children  could  rejoin  him, 
the  boy  enter  business  of  some  kind,  the  girl 
marry  a  neighbor  and  thus  they  would  end 
their  days,  blessed  in  the  Island  of  the  Blessed. 


VI 


Telula  sat  alone  in  the  bungalow.  She  had 
nothing  to  do  now  but  to  watch  and  to  wait. 
She  was  used  to  that.  So  are  they  all  down 
yonder ;  all  used  to  watching  and  waiting  from 
morning  till  night,  year  in,  year  out — always 
watching  and  waiting.  What  else  is  there  to 
do  in  an  island  lost  in  a  trackless  sea  out  of 
sight  of  the  world. 

The  children  were  in  New  Zealand  where 

they  were  likely  to  remain  for  the  next  ten  or 

a  dozen  years.     When  they    returned    they 

would  no  longer  be  children,  but  they  would 

66 


ABSENT   BEYOND   SEAS 

be  happy.  They  never  outgrow  their  love  for 
their  native  land,  those  natives,  or  half  or  a 
quarter  natives,  albeit  there  is  so  little  of  it 
and  they  may  have  left  that  little  when  they 
were  infinitesimal  by  comparison.  They  were 
destined  to  yearn  for  their  mother  and  she  to 
long  for  them  with  a  longing  that  made  their 
hearts  faint  within  them ;  that  was  all  that  was 
left  them,  all  they  could  hope  for  during  the 
next  ten  or  a  dozen  years. 

Pemberton  returned  to  England  listlessly. 
He  never  quite  recovered  from  the  shock  he  re 
ceived  when  he  broke  the  seals  of  those  home 
letters.  Truly,  he  had  loved  in  his  animal  way 
and  was  fond  of  his  children  as  animals  are 
fond  of  their  young,  but  it  was  not  the  old  love, 
not  the  first  love,  the  love  that  enlightens,  illu 
mines,  transfigures;  the  love  that  lives  and 
lasts  and  should  live  and  last  on  to  the  end 
of  time. 

He  found  the  old  people  in  the  old  home 
stead,  older,  very  much  older  than  when  he 
last  saw  them.  They  were  bowed  and  trem 
bling  and  yet  it  was  but  ten  years  before,  yes, 
less  than  ten,  when  he  said  good-by  to  them 
and  to  the  one  other  who  was  dearest  of  all 
to  him. 

She  was  not  referred  to  in  any  wise.  She 
67 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

had  never  been  named  since  the  fatal  letter 
reached  him  and  changed  the  whole  current  of 
his  life.  He  sat  about  the  house ;  he  wandered 
over  the  place ;  he  drove  or  rode  across  coun 
try  and  tried  to  imagine  that  he  was  glad  and 
grateful  to  be  at  home  again.  He  was  neither 
glad  nor  grateful.  He  was  dead  to  all  this  and 
had  long  been  dead  to  it;  for  him  there  was 
now  no  other  life  than  that  which  he  had  been 
living  for  the  last  few  years,  the  life  yonder 
in  his  island  where  he  was  cut  off  from  the 
past  and  could  forget  it,  or  could  seem  to 
forget  it. 

He  was  reasoning  thus  as  he  walked  alone  in 
one  of  the  byways  of  the  neighboring  country ; 
he  was  passing  slowly  down  a  lane  between  tall 
hedges ;  he  had  turned  into  it  because  it  was  a 
very  quiet  lane  and  there  wras  no  one  in  view 
to  take  note  of  him — he  wished  to  be  alone. 
Lost  in  meditation  he  wandered  down  the  lane ; 
his  surroundings  were  forgotten;  he  fancied 
himself  buried  in  the  depths  of  an  inland  for 
est,  pathless,  unexplored,  far  from  the  sight 
of  man,  far  from  the  sound  of  a  human  voice ; 
nothing  there  but  the  shadows  that  are  never 
lifted  from  the  wood;  no  sound  save  the  whir 
of  wings  as  the  startled  birds  fled  shadow-like 
at  his  approach,  and  the  rhythmical  hum  of  a 
68 


ABSENT   BEYOND   SEAS 

myriad  insects  as  they  reeled  deliriously  in  the 
air 

Suddenly  he  stopped  short  in  his  tracks ;  it 
was  as  if  a  blow  had  been  dealt  him  between 
the  eyes  by  an  unseen  hand ;  a  torrent  of  boil 
ing  blood  rushed  to  his  brain  and  half  blinded 
him ;  with  a  sharp  wild  cry,  he  faltered,  reeled 
where  he  stood,  stared  before  him  with  eyes 
that  seemed  bursting  from  their  sockets,  stag 
gered,  gasped,  clutched  madly  at  his  heart  and 
fell  headlong  to  the  earth. 

A  woman  rushed  to  him,  knelt  at  his  side, 
raised  his  head  to  her  bosom  and  frantically 
fondled  it  while  she  cried  hysterically  for  help. 

It  was  Phillis— alone  with  her  dead! 


VII 

Were  this  story  not  the  truth,  the  whole 
truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  I  should 
carefully  avoid  the  slightest  suspicion  of  the 
melodramatic.  I  relate  only  what  I  know  to 
be  a  fact,  all  the  details  of  which  came  within 
my  personal  knowledge  and  have  long  been 
locked  within  the  casket  of  my  memory. 

At  the  expiration  of  the  customary  period 
of  mournful  watching,  the  coffin  containing 
69 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

the  remains  of  the  late  Philip  Pemberton  was 
borne  on  the  shoulders  of  the  household  re 
tainers  to  the  chapel  and  placed  in  front  of 
the  altar.  The  lid  of  the  coffin  was  removed ; 
the  body,  clad  in  conventional  evening  dress 
was  exposed  to  view.  The  usual  ceremonies 
were  progressing  with  due  solemnity.  The  be 
reaved  parents  of  Philip  seemed  scarcely  to 
comprehend  the  situation.  Their  son  had 
grown  apart  from  them.  For  some  years  their 
intercourse  had  been  rather  formal  than  other 
wise.  Letters  had  crossed  the  sea  at  uncer 
tain  intervals.  They  knew  no  one  in  that  far 
away  island  who  was  acquainted  with  their 
son  and  who,  had  they  been  on  terms  of  inti 
macy,  would  have  been  likely  to  have  revealed 
anything  calculated  to  embarrass  a  friend  or 
grieve  his  parents.  Philip's  life  for  the  past 
ten  years  had  been  to  them  a  sealed  volume; 
they  had  almost  ceased  to  wonder  at  it.  He 
was,  as  it  were,  dead  to  them;  his  occasional 
letters  offered  them  no  clew  as  to  his  moral  or 
spiritual  welfare ;  they  were  merely  an  echo  of 
the  past,  growing  fainter  and  fainter,  and 
served  only  to  revive  a  memory  of  what  he 
was  when  he  was  all  in  all  to  them. 

Phillis  was  there,  clad  all  in  black,  her  tear 
less  face  blanched  to  an  unearthly  pallor.    The 
70 


ABSENT   BEYOND   SEAS 

chant  of  the  choir  which  is  apt  to  move  to» 
tears  because  it  is  pitched  in  a  loftier  key  than 
that  to  which  our  work-a-day  world  is  attuned 
—as  if  it  were  something  that  soared  forever 
half-way  between  earth  and  heaven  and  were 
luring  us  hence  to  better  and  brighter  things 
— the  young,  passionless,  seraphic  voices 
blending  in  melting  harmonies,  did  not  dim 
her  eyes ;  nor  were  the  eyes  of  any  in  all  that 
congregation  blurred  even  for  a  moment. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  cruelly  cold  service 
there  was  a  stir  among  those  who  were  seated 
in  the  middle  aisle,  near  the  chancel-rail;  a 
rustling  of  garments,  the  fall  of  two  or  three 
prayer  books,  a  hurrying  of  people  from  their 
pews  and  a  crowding  about  the  coffin. 

The  music  ceased  abruptly;  the  clergyman 
hastened  down  from  the  altar;  a  dreadful 
silence  followed,  during  which  a  few  fright 
ened  women  hurried  from  the  house  of  prayer. 

What  did  it  all  mean  1 

Philip  Pemberton  was  being  tenderly  and 
with  touching  solicitude  lifted  from  the  pillow 
where  he  was  to  have  slept  his  last,  long  sleep ; 
for  lo !  the  third  day  he  had  risen  again  from 
the  dead! 


71 


THE   ISLAND   OP   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

VIII 

When  Philip  was  able  to  reason  and  to  listen 

to  reason  he  required  of  his  father  and  his 

^•inother  an  explanation.    He  had  seen  and  rec- 

/ognijaed  Phillis,  or  was  it  but  her  spirit,  re- 

erfibodied  for  the  moment,  that  had  appeared 

to  him  in  the  hedge-bordered  lane  ? 

Their 'story  was  not  impossible;  much  that 
transpires,  is  improbable.  Phillis  was  a  passive 
participator  in  the  tragedy  of  errors  that  came 
so  near  to  being  played  on  to  the  lamentable 
climax.  Here  is  a  plain  statement  of  the  case. 

Shortly  after  Philip  had  put  to  sea,  and 
when  he  was  beyond  the  reach  of  the  post  or 
the  telegraph,  Phillis  disappeared.  Philip's 
people,  never  having  been  interested  in  her 
personally,  and  fearing  that  a  union  between 
Philip  and  this  rustic  maiden  might  prove  dis 
advantageous  to  their  son,  who  was  of  gentle 
birth,  took  little  pains  to  learn  what  had  be 
come  of  her.  They  had  never  recognized  her 
as  a  possible  daughter-in-law;  indeed  they 
scarcely  knew  her  by  sight.  Not  long  after 
her  disappearance  word  was  brought  to  them 
that  she  was  dangerously  ill ;  and,  soon  after, 
that  she  was  dead.  They  could  not  fail  to  ac- 
72 


ABSENT   BEYOND   SEAS 

cept  this  news  with  easy  resignation.  It  was 
of  course,  the  will  of  God  and  they  were  quick 
enough  to  bow  to  it.  They  were  sorry  for  the 
son  whose  grief  they  could  understand  and  ap 
preciate,  but  it  seemed  to  them  that  her  death 
was  a  blessing  in  disguise  and  that  time  would 
surely  heal  the  wound  which  he  was  destined 
to  survive  as  so  many  who  had  been  wounded 
in  like  manner  had  survived  before  him. 

That  closed  the  case  as  far  as  Phillis  was 
concerned. 

The  news  was  gradually  broken  to  him  in 
letters  written  at  different  dates,  but  these 
letters,  having  arrived  betimes  at  the  port  to 
which  he  was  destined,  accumulated  there,  and 
on  his  arrival  were  delivered  to  him  all  at 
once.  We  know  what  followed.  Perhaps  it 
was  what  was  most  likely  to  follow  under  such 
circumstances,  at  such  a  time  and  in  such  a 
place. 

Phillis  had  not  written  to  him  because  she 
was  hurt  at  his  having  left  her,  thus  yielding 
to  the  persuasion  of  his  parents.  She  knew 
that  they  did  not  like  her;  that  they  were  not 
likely  to  favor  the  suit,  nor  even  to  recognize 
her  in  case  Philip  should  return  and  marry 
her  against  the  parental  will.  She  left  her 
home  because  it  had  become  intolerable  and 
73 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

she  wished  to  remain  away  from  that  part  of 
the  country,  with  all  its  sweet  and  bitter  asso 
ciations.  She  had  been  ill,  very  ill ;  her  life 
was  despaired  of ;  the  report  of  her  death  had 
been  circulated  among  her  friends  and  so  came 
to  the  ears  of  the  Pembertons.  They  never 
learned  that  the  report  was  premature;  that 
Phillis  still  lived  and  that  she  had  returned  to 
her  family  on  a  visit  about  the  time  when 
Philip  reappeared  in  England. 

She  had  never  written  to  Philip  because  she 
had  never  heard  from  him.  How  could  a 
modest  and  sensitive  girl  be  expected  to  write 
when  she  thought  herself  unloved — perhaps 
utterly  forgotten? 

That  was  the  whole  of  the  story.  Philip 
arose  from  his  bed  and  with  the  new  birth  of 
love  and  hope  and  trust,  he  sought  her. 


IX 


When  love  that  has  been  sleeping  reawakens 
it  is  richer,  broader,  deeper  than  it  was  before. 
What  is  sweeter  than  a  perfect  understanding 
after  a  long  estrangement  ?  If  the  rift  within 
the  lover's  lute  be  fatal,  it  is  nevertheless  the 
flaw  in  the  moonstone  that  makes  it  precious, 
74 


ABSENT   BEYOND   SEAS 

and  without  that  flaw  no  good  fortune  would 
follow  it.  How  much  finer  is  the  harmony 
that  is  the  sequence  of  a  discord.  Thus  Philip 
fell  into  the  flowery  mazes  of  euphuism,  when 
he  and  Phillis  had  met  and  mated  anew. 

He  could  not  remain  in  England ;  she  could 
not  remain  anywhere  unless  she  were  with  him 
and  then,  Paradise  was  where  he  was  and  all 
these  years  she  had  been  patiently  waiting  for 
him  to  offer  her  the  key  to  it. 

Telula  was  of  course  forgotten  on  the  in 
stant.  The  children1?  Phillis  should  hear  that 
story  and  condone  it  in  his  atonement.  He 
would  atone ;  he  had  never  had  the  chance  to 
live  other  than  he  had  lived,  until  now.  Phillis 
could  make  all  possible,  and  as  Eve  in  his 
Eden  she  should  make  it  so  easy  to  forswear 
the  world;  in  the  world  they  were  sure  of 
meeting  with  rebuffs ;  but  here  they  were  cre 
ating,  for  themselves  alone,  a  rule  of  life  ideal 
in  its  conception  which  was  to  be  a  perpetual 
benediction  in  the  observance  of  it. 


The  rays  of  the  setting  sun  were  flooding 
the  deep  veranda  of  the  bungalow.    The  island 
75 


THE   ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

was  bathed  in  a  radiant  glow.  Silence  and 
somnolence  were  approaching  "with  the  twi 
light.  In  the  densely  leaved  trees  noisy  col 
onies  of  birds  were  hushing  one  another  to 
rest;  tired  butterflies  had  gathered  upon  tall 
slender  swaying  stalks  of  scented  grass  and 
with  folded  wings  hung  like  painted  banners 
in  the  motionless  air.  Peace,  unutterable 
peace,  was  written  in  the  heavens  above,  upon 
the  earth  beneath  and  in  the  waters  under  the 
earth.  Philip  was  lounging  in  a  long  bamboo 
chair  watching  the  glory  as  it  paled  in  the 
western  sky.  Phillis  reclining  at  his  feet 
rested  her  head  upon  his  knees  and  seemed  lost 
in  a  rapture  of  requited  love.  Splendid 
night  moths  fluttered  noiselessly  by.  Faint 
and  far  away  was  the  lullaby  of  the  surf ;  all 
the  crickets  in  Christendom  seemed  to  be  chirp 
ing  their  lives  away  in  a  chorus  that  was 
soothing  and  unceasing.  Was  anything  lack 
ing  in  this  picture  of  domestic  peace?  They 
were  married  and  they  were  in  love  in  spite 
of  it.  Every  wish  was  gratified,  every  prayer 
answered.  They  could  only  hope  that  others 
were  as  happy  as  they  were,  and  might  remain 
as  happy  as  they  felt  they  must,  on  to  the  end 
of  time. 

There  were  two  children  in  New  Zealand, 
76 


ABSENT  BEYOND  SEAS 

pretty  thoroughly  weaned  by  this  time  and 
contented  in  their  new  environment  beyond 
the  sea.  Children  easily  accommodate  them 
selves  to  circumstances,  if  they  are  newly  cir 
cumstanced  early  enough  in  life.  And  was 
this  all  that  could  possibly  interest  the  livers 
of  that  love-life  in  the  bungalow?  Appar 
ently  ! 

There  was  a  shadow  in  the  garden ;  a  shadow 
that  haunted  it  night  and  day.  When  the  sun 
was  obscured  it  was  still  a  shadow,  a  palpable 
shadow,  appearing  and  disappearing  in  the 
dim  recesses  of  the  garden.  In  the  darkness 
of  the  night  it  was  an  embodied  shade,  pass 
ing  to  and  fro,  voiceless,  almost  invisible,  like 
a  dark  angel  watching  and  waiting  for  some 
one,  for  something— some  one  to  come  with  a 
kindly  greeting  or  a  reproof,  perchance ;  some 
thing  to  happen  that  should  lift  the  burden 
from  a  soul  that  was  suffering  in  silence,  or 
set  that  soul  free  at  last,  free  forever  and 
forever. 

Did  Pemberton  ever  cross  the  mysterious 
path  of  that  haunter  of  the  garden?  Did  he 
ever  challenge  the  restless  spirit  whose  hungry 
eyes  fed  on  the  form  that  had  once  embodied 
all  that  was  dearest  to  it  on  earth?  Why  did 
he  not  banish  it  from  his  sight,  if  he  indeed 

77 


THE   ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

saw  it?  Why  did  he  suffer  it  to  hover  near 
him,  always  within  sight,  always  within  hear 
ing,  and  always  utterly  ignored? 

Once  they  had  met,  the  woman  whom  he 
loved  and  the  shadow  of  the  woman  whom  he 
had  loved  but  loved  no  longer.  They  had  fixed 
their  eyes  upon  each  other ;  a  long  earnest  look 
full  of  the  severest  scrutiny  began  and  ended 
in  silence.  They  never  met  face  to  face  again. 
Phillis  had  forgotten  the  strange  woman  who 
had  gazed  at  her  so  wistfully,  so  passionately. 
Sometimes  when  she  was  wandering  in  the 
mazes  of  the  garden  she  heard  the  rustle  of 
leaves,  the  brushing  of  a  garment  that  flut 
tered  and  fled  before  her,  but  she  thought  little 
of  it;  there  were  native  retainers  there  who 
were  fond  of  that  fragrant  wilderness  and 
some  of  them  shy  enough  to  take  flight  on  the 
approach  of  the  foreign  lady. 

Gradually  that  shadow  faded ;  seldom  was  it 
seen  as  the  months,  the  years  passed  by,  and 
when  a  new  joy  came  to  the  household,  the 
crowning  joy  of  joys,  one  might  have  searched 
in  vain  for  the  shadow  that  had  haunted  the 
garden.  But  had  one  looked  long  enough  and 
well  enough  one  might  have  followed  a  nar 
row  fern-feathered  trail  that  wound  down  the 
hill  slope  toward  the  sea,  and  there,  upon  a 


ABSENT   BEYOND   SEAS 

little  shoulder  of  the  hill,  by  a  hut  woven  of 
boughs  and  brakes  and  rushes,  one  might  have 
seen  the  crouching  form  of  a  woman,  who 
seemed  only  the  withering  ghost  of  a  woman, 
crouching  pathetically  with  forehead  bowed 
upon  her  knees  and  hands  clutching  the  naked 
feet  while  at  intervals  a  sob  that  seemed  the 
last  utterance  of  despair  was  the  only  evidence 
that  breath  still  animated  that  stricken  clay. 

Oh  Telula ! 

It  is  written:— "In  Eamah  was  there  a 
voice  heard,  lamentation,  and  weeping,  and 
great  mourning,  Rachel  weeping  for  her  chil 
dren,  and  would  not  be  comforted  because 
they  were  not." 


79 


MY  LATE  WIDOW 


MY  LATE   WIDOW 

_L  HERE  was  music,  and  there  was  moon 
light,  and  there  was  the  moan  of  the  sea  under 
the  palms  in  the  tropical  metropolis,  when  I 
grew  weary  of  it  all  and  at  midnight,  with  a 
wave  of  my  hand,  I  cried,  "Good-by,  proud 
world;  I'm  going  home,"  called  a  carriage 
and  asked  the  Kanaka  driver  what  he  would 
charge  to  take  me  to  the  cemetery  up  Nuuana 
Valley.  With  a  startled  air  he  replied  that 
the  fare  there  and  back  was  a  dollar. 

"But  I  don't  wish  to  come  back,"  said  I. 
"Drive  on!" 

He  nearly  fell  from  the  box  when  I  gave  my 
order  but  I  was  in  earnest;  I  was  merely 
going  home— home  to  Spook  Hall,  where  I 
dwelt  happily  with  my  late  widow,  Lady 
Spook.  Why  did  I  dwell  there  and  with  her? 
The  question  is  natural  and  civil  enough;  I 
will  tell  you.  Listen! 

In  the  tropical  metropolis  I  found  myself 
languishing  upon  the  verge  of  an  enchantment 
that  satisfied  me  not.  I  speedily  grew  tired 
of  the  hotel.  But  for  the  ever-open  doors  and 
windows,  the  broad  vine-draped  verandas,  the 
cocoa  and  royal  palms,  the  bananas,  the  man- 
83 


THE   ISLAND   OP   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

goes  and  the  bread-fruit  trees  that  richly  deco 
rated  the  rainbow-tinted  vista,  that  particular 
hotel  might  as  well  have  been  anywhere  else 
in  the  world.  So  one  dull  day  I  said  to  my 
self,  "I  must  get  out  of  this  at  my  earliest 
convenience ! "  Some  one  who  overheard  me 
suggested  that  I  join  an  old  friend  of  mine, 
one  of  those  very  old  friends  who  never 
change ;  who  disappear  for  an  indefinite  period 
and  are  not  heard  of  for  a  long  time,  and  then 
reappear  in  the  most  natural  manner  and 
quietly  begin  just  where  they  left  off,  as  if 
there  had  never  been  the  slightest  interrup 
tion  in  the  daily  course  of  human  events — and 
of  course  there  really  hadn  't  been.  The  heart 
of  neither  suffered  any  estrangement,  for 
those  hearts  understood  one  another  so  per 
fectly  and  were  so  temperate  and  so  content 
that  neither  was  really  conscious  of  any  sep 
aration. 

She  dwelt  up  the  valley,  back  from  the  high 
way.  Of  course  she  was  a  woman  and  a 
widow.  Upon  inquiry  I  learned  that  the  home 
of  my  friend  was  unique  to  the  verge  of  ab 
normity,  and  I  resolved  to  visit  it  without  de 
lay.  The  fullest  geographical  details  were 
freely  offered  me,  but  what  seemed  to  me  a 
little  singular  was  the  fact  that  while  any  one 

84 


MY   LATE    WIDOW 

could  direct  the  stupidest  explorer  to  the  very 
spot,  no  one,  or  almost  no  one,  had  ever  been 
there  or  cared  much  to  go. 

This  is  how  I  came  to  the  house  of  my 
friend:  It  was  in  the  last  ideal  hour  of  the 
day;  the  prodigal  birds  were  pouring  forth 
all  the  melody  that  was  in  them,  for  they  were 
not  to  sing  again  until  morning— until  very 
early  in  the  morning.  The  air  was  heavy  with 
perfume— how  I  like  that  antiquated  bit  of 
symbolical  extravagance,  and  yet  it  can  hardly 
be  called  an  extravagance  in  the  tropics. 

I  had  followed  the  valley  road  until  I  came 
to  the  cemetery.  The  rain-washed  head 
stones  were  very  white,  the  sky  was  very  blue ; 
everything  was  sweet  and  clean  and  inexpress 
ibly  peaceful.  At  the  cemetery  I  swung  my 
self  carefully  through  the  turnstile  and  walked 
up  the  not  too  narrow  path  in  the  center  until 
I  came  to  a  gray  picket  fence  at  the  top.  Oh, 
such  a  jungle  of  indigo-plants  and  castor-beans 
as  grew  there,  with  a  rank  harvest  of  knee- 
deep  grass,  and  only  the  pointed  tips  of  the 
gray  pickets  peeping  out  here  and  there! 

I  discovered  a  kind  of  beaten  track— a  track 

that  must  have  been  trodden  by  a  light  foot, 

for  the  long  grass  lay  in  it  quite  green  and 

comfortable,  and  nothing  was  dead  and  with- 

85 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

ered  thereabout.  This  trail  I  took,  as  directed, 
and  speedily  came  to  a  part  of  the  fence  where 
one  picket  was  off,  and  one  on  each  side  of 
the  open  space  was  loosened  at  the  lower  end 
and  pressed  apart.  I  easily  crept  through 
here.  Now  the  jungle  thickened;  everything 
was  growing  wild,  running  wild,  and  rankly 
wild  at  that;  tenderly  cultivated  flowers  had 
gone  back  to  the  state  of  nature  and  become 
exaggerations  of  themselves;  lilies,  huge 
Japanese  lilies  of  a  deadly  fragrance,  sprang 
out  of  the  wind-tangled  grass  and  stared  at 
me ;  roses  ran  riot  and  came  to  grief ;  they  had 
grown  to  an  alarming  height  unpruned,  un 
sheltered,  unsupported,  and  then  when  the 
branches  were  over-full  of  blossoms  and  the 
rain  came  and  deluged  them,  and  the  wind  fol 
lowed  after,  down  fell  the  avalanche  of  petals, 
carrying  everything  with  it,  in  a  sudden  mass 
that  lay  neglected  ever  after.  Wonderful  East 
Indian  flowers  were  there,  choking  to  death  in 
the  exuberant  herbage  that  crowded  every 
where.  Even  the  little  trails  about  the  house 
were  hardly  visible. 

A  dilapidated   wire    fence   hidden    in   the 
jungle— a  capital  trap  for  the  feet  of  the  un 
suspecting—lay  prostrate  between  me  and  the 
house  I  was  approaching.    I  succeeded  in  get- 
86 


MY   LATE    WIDOW 

ting  through  this  fence,  or  over  it,  or  under  it, 
it  were  vain  to  say  which ;  and  so,  finally,  came 
upon  a  broad  low  cottage,  with  a  vast  sweep 
ing  roof  that  hovered  over  it  like  an  out 
spreading  wing,  and  upon  the  creaking  floor 
of  the  veranda  I  stood  knocking  a  loud  and 
hollow  knock  against  the  worm-eaten  sash  of 
a  pair  of  double  doors  that  stood  wide  open. 

I  thought  I  heard  an  answer  but  it  proved 
to  be  only  an  echo.  The  place  was  awfully 
empty ;  in  the  center  of  the  cottage  was  a  large 
airy  hall,  a  kind  of  music-room  and  library 
combined.  A  small  book-case,  a  piano  of  an 
antiquated  pattern,  a  work-table,  a  lounge  and 
two  or  three  long  Chinese  bamboo  chairs  were 
all  that  was  visible  from  the  door.  Upon  the 
small  table,  a  cozy  feminine  piece  of  furni 
ture,  lay  a  bit  of  unfinished  embroidery,  a 
volume  of  "Friends  in  Council,"  the  dainty 
London  edition,  and  a  spray  of  flowers  that 
seemed  to  have  been  carelessly  thrown  there; 
yet  to  have  moved  it  a  fraction  of  an  inch  in 
any  direction  would  have  spoiled  a  very  pretty 
bit  of  still-life. 

I  knocked  again ;  echoes  responded  from  the 

adjoining  apartments,  and  then  on  the  ceiling 

just  overhead  was  heard  a  sharp  tapping  that 

was  like  a  derisive  mockery  of  my  rap.     The 

87 


THE   ISLAND    OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

twilight  was  hurrying  away ;  there  was  some 
thing  ghostly  in  the  atmosphere  that  pre 
vailed;  I  felt  like  shivering.  ''This  is  Spook 
Hall, ' '  said  I,  and  lifting  up  my  voice  I  cried, 
'  *  Where  are  you,  0  Lady  Spook  ? ' ' 

I  heard  the  tapping  overhead  softly  re 
peated,  and  then  the  patter  of  feet  hastening 
from  one  side  of  the  room  to  the  other.  I  am 
sure  of  this ;  I  could  not  be  mistaken,  although 
no  one  was  visible.  I  wandered  out  into  the 
grass  before  the  hall  and  saw  there  was  no 
upper  apartment;  there  was  but  the  single 
floor,  and  I  at  that  moment  was  stark  alone 
there.  Assuring  myself  of  this  fact,  I  went 
through  the  several  rooms,  for  all  the  doors 
and  windows  of  the  house  stood  wide  open. 
On  the  one  hand  of  the  great  central  chamber 
was  a  sleeping-room— Lady  Spook's,  no  doubt, 
for  it  was  feminine  to  the  last  degree ;  on  the 
other  side  of  the  music-room  was  a  kind  of 
boudoir.  Bright  chintz  draperies  and  a  sun 
burst  of  Easter  and  Christmas  cards  glorified 
an  improvised  screen  and  gave  that  corner  of 
the  establishment  an  unwonted  air  of  cheer 
fulness.  In  the  rear  of  the  music-room  was  a 
refectory  with  its  whole  outer  wall  of  glass; 
it  commanded  a  superb  view  of  the  cloud- 
swept  heights  up  the  valley.  On  each  side  of 
88 


MY   LATE   WIDOW 

the  refectory,  beyond  a  maze  of  pantries,  clos 
ets,  lockers,  and  small  alcoves,  was  a  pleasant 
room.  One  of  these  chambers,  furnished,  was 
for  rent ;  it  had  its  bath,  its  windows  opening 
upon  the  wilderness,  its  lovely  vistas  inviting 
the  eye,  and  was  in  nowise  dependent  on  the 
hall  or  the  lady  of  the  hall;  it  was  a  semi 
detached  apartment  entirely  suited  to  the 
wants  of  a  modest  bachelor. 

"I  will  take  this  room,  if  I  may,"  said  I 
to  myself ;  and,  leaving  my  card  on  the  work- 
table  in  the  library  corner  of  the  great  room, 
I  implied  as  much  in  a  few  hasty  words  pen 
ciled  on  a  corner  of  the  card.  This  accom 
plished,  I  somehow  found  my  way  out  of  the 
jungle  into  the  cemetery  and  back  to  town; 
and  when  the  evening  had  come  and  there  was 
an  uncommon  stillness  in  the  air,  I  wondered 
if  Lady  Spook  was  sitting  in  her  solemn  soli- 
ude— beyond  the  grave,  as  it  were— sitting  and 
listening  to  the  mysterious  tapping  that 
saluted  and  startled  me. 

******* 

Bright  and  amiable  people  were  lodging  at 
the  hotel  in  the  tropical  metropolis:  young 
planters,  the  unlucky  young  brothers  of  those 
heirs  to  whom  the  whole  estate  descended  in 
old  England ;  they  had  been  set  up  in  business 
89 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

at  the  end  of  the  earth  by  indulgent  fathers 
who  had  contributed  to  the  ranks  of  the  army, 
the  navy,  the  Established  Church.  At  inter^ 
vals  they  came  down  on  the  inter-island  steam 
ers  from  more  or  less  remote  canefields  and 
spent  their  substance  in  riotous  living.  I  grew 
to  know  these  young  gentlemen  and  to  like 
them,  and  many  a  jovial  hour  I  passed  among 
the  hotel  cottages,  where  they  entertained  in 
almost  princely  fashion.  But  they  satisfied 
me  not ;  after  all  that  was  said  in  their  favor 
the  fact  remained  that  they  were  but  young 
English  gentlemen  enjoying  themselves  in  the 
good  old  English  way,  and  one  need  not  bury 
oneself  at  the  antipodes  in  order  to  enter  into 
the  spirit  of  their  festivities.  The  military 
concert  upon  the  lawn  at  night,  the  rides,  the 
drives,  the  boating,  the  bathing— none  of  these 
had  any  latitudinal  characteristics  whatever. 
Shut  out  the  palm-tree  vistas  and  the  dusky- 
skinned  half -clad  islanders  who  lounged  in  the 
middle  distance,  and  the  life  generally  lived 
in  the  tropical  metropolis  might  be  lived  with 
ease  in  any  summer  resort  under  the  sun.  So 
I  was  glad  when  a  coolie,  clad  in  immaculate 
white,  presented  to  me  a  letter  upon  a  tray  held 
by  the  slenderest  fingers  I  ever  saw  upon  a 
man's  hand. 

90 


MY    LATE    WIDOW 

"You  are  heartily  welcome  to  the  best  the 
hall  affords,  and  the  chamber  in  the  south 
wing  even  now  awaits  your  pleasure. ' '  It  was 
Lady  Spook  who  wrote;  and  that  very  day, 
almost  within  the  hour,  I  arrived,  bag  and 
baggage,  at  the  entrance  to  the  south  wing, 
and  was  duly  installed  at  Spook  Hall.  Lady 
Spook  was  in  her  boudoir.  She  was  of  a  com 
fortable  plumpness;  her  rich  brown  hair  was 
arranged  in  the  simplest  manner;  her  com 
plexion  was  one  of  perfect  health;  a  certain 
independence  of  manner,  while  not  in  the  least 
unfeminine,  assured  the  casual  observer  that 
she  was  entirely  capable  of  taking  care  of  her 
self  ;  she  was  English  as  English,  and  the  hall 
had  an  English  air  of  comfort  in  certain  of 
its  nooks  and  corners,  though,  generally  speak 
ing,  it  was  not  abundantly  furnished. 

In  her  favorite  room  there  were  delicately 
flowered  chintz  curtains  with  wide  fluted 
ruffles,  buff  portieres  with  strips  of  maroon 
velvet— handily  home-made  were  these;  there 
was  a  broad,  cool  lounge  with  very  plump 
cushions ;  newly  plucked  flowers  filled  several 
large  jars  and  gave  an  air  of  rare  attractive 
ness  to  that  particular  corner  of  the  hall. 
Birds  twittered  noisily  under  the  low,  far- 
extending  eaves;  bees  buzzed  in  and  out  of 
91 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

the  open  windows  like  lilliputian  flying- 
machines;  sometimes  the  dragon-fly— that 
winged  javelin— pierced  the  air  in  such  furi 
ous  haste  that  he  came  to  grief  in  a  corner  of 
the  boudoir  and  his  stiff,  glazed  wings  clashed 
like  cymbals.  Then  Puggins,  the  canine  pet 
of  our  Lady  Spook,  arose  and  charged  indig 
nantly  upon  the  late  free-lance  of  the  air. 
There  was  a  brief  combat,  during  which  the 
mistress  of  the  hall  reproved  Puggins  for  his 
undignified  blood-thirstiness,  and  silence, 
punctuated  by  bird  notes  and  the  boom  of 
bees,  was  restored.  There  was  nothing  to  eat 
in  the  hall— nothing  but  dragon-flies,  and 
these  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  warlike  Puggins. 
Lady  Spook  daily  gathered  a  small  flock  of 
maidens  in  her  music-room,  or  in  the  crumb- 
less  refectory,  or  perchance  under  a  tree  in 
the  wildest  of  gardens,  and  shepherded  them 
among  the  paths  of  learning.  At  stated  in 
tervals  she  opened  a  huge  parasol  and,  gather 
ing  a  multitude  of  well-starched  skirts  about 
her  ankles,  tripped  away  into  leafy  space  and 
was  fed  by  the  ravens— for  aught  I  knew. 

It  was  agreed  between  us,  without  the  ex 
change  of  a  word,  that  our  individual  inde 
pendence  should  in  no  wise  and  under  no  cir 
cumstances    be    interfered    with;    therefore, 
92 


MY  LATE   WIDOW 

though  I  went  forth  at  intervals  seeking  whom 
or  what  I  might  devour,  and  generally  finding 
it  at  a  well-laid  board  a  good  quarter  of  a  mile 
distant,  she,  my  Lady  Spook,  knew  little  and 
cared  less  for  my  outgoings  and  incomings. 
This  mutual  declaration  of  independence  was 
our  safeguard  in  an  association  of  interests 
which  was,  to  say  the  least,  unusual.  Geo 
graphically,  we  were  isolated;  socially,  and  I 
think  I  may  say  spiritually,  we  were,  so  to 
speak,  beyond  the  grave. 

When,  luggage  in  hand,  I  made  my  appear 
ance  at  Spook  Hall,  my  Lady  Spook  exclaimed 
in  no  little  surprise:  " However  did  you  force 
an  entrance?"  It  would  have  been  quite  im 
possible  with  my  luggage  in  hand  to  force  an 
entrance  between  the  cemetery  palings,  though 
they  yawned  to  admit  us  to  our  unkept  do 
main.  A  carriage-drive  that  originally  fol 
lowed  the  side  wall  of  the  cemetery  and 
entered  the  highway  with  some  display  of 
stone-work  on  each  hand— I  was  never  able  to 
find  any  trace  of  gates,  though— this  carriage- 
drive,  so  long  neglected,  had  been  rendered 
absolutely  impassable  by  the  luxuriant  growth 
of  the  lantana  bushes;  their  slender  boughs 
were  locked  across  it  in  an  impenetrable  net 
work,  and  even  a  bird  might  find  it  difficult  to 
93 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

enter  there,  and  perhaps  more  difficult  to 
emerge  from  this  dense  maze.  "However  did 
you  force  an  entrance?"  said  Lady  Spook,  as 
she  paused  upon  the  mossy  steps  of  the  hall, 
while  a  small  lizard  sprawled  at  her  feet.  "I 
came  over  the  fence  of  our  nameless  neigh 
bors,"  replied  I— and  at  that  moment  a  sud 
den  shower  fell  out  of  a  sky  that  seemed  almost 
cloudless,  and  so  we  two  sat  in  easy  chairs 
on  the  veranda  listening  to  the  roar  of  the  pre 
cipitated  rain.  We  noted  how  it  seemed  to 
bring  the  shattered  sunbeams  with  it— it  was 
literally  a  shining  rain,  prismatic  and  brilliant 
—and  we  inhaled  the  delicious  fragrance  of 
half-hidden  blossoms  that  were  having  the 
very  breath  beaten  out  of  them  during  this 
tropical  episode. 

There  were  neighbors  on  three  sides  of  us— 
let  me  say  on  four  sides  of  us — and  each  was 
as  harmless  and  as  unobtrusive  as  the  other. 
Looking  through  the  glazed  wall  of  the  refec 
tory  was  seen  the  meadow  lands  of  our  upper 
neighbor  and  his  flocks  and  his  herds  feeding 
luxuriously;  our  neighbor  on  the  other  hand, 
whose  estate  spread  itself  on  the  seaward 
slopes,  was  so  far  distant  that  agile  youth,  as 
it  sported  upon  the  tennis  court,  seemed  to  be 
enacting  a  pantomimic  ballet  to  the  music  of 
94 


MY   LATE   WIDOW 

the  mountain  zephyr ;  even  the  merry  laughter 
was  blown  away  from  our  listening  ears.  You 
already  know  of  the  neighbors  who  dwelt  be 
yond  the  bourn  of  the  undiscovered  country. 
Through  these  silent  paths  my  friend  and  I 
were  wont  to  seek  our  hardly  less  silent  ter 
ritory.  They  never  once  startled  us,  nor  any 
shade  or  shadow  of  them,  that  I  wot  of.  On 
the  fourth  side  of  the  hall  lay  a  plantation  of 
wild  briars.  Never  briars  flourished  as  these 
briars  flourished,  even  down  to  the  steep  brink 
of  a  brook  that  brawled  under  the  foot  of  a 
hill— our  last  neighbors.  There  were  two 
or  three  tumble-down  out-houses  scattered 
through  the  ' '  briary, "  as  we  loved  to  call  that 
field  of  desolation.  They  were  no  longer  to  be 
identified;  the  doors  that  had  not  already 
fallen  were  shambling  in  the  wind;  windows 
there  were  none ;  the  lizards  loved  the  place — 
it  was  their  forum. 

The  southern  windows  of  my  room  com 
manded  this  spot— an  acre  which  was  lovely 
in  its  unloveliness ;  and  when  I  lifted  mine  eyes 
unto  the  hills  the  very  spirit  of  God  was  within 
me.  In  an  exalted  mood  I  one  day  turned 
from  this  window  and  sought  the  refreshing 
temperature  of  the  boudoir.  Lady  Spook  had 
been  repotting  some  rare  ferns  and  bathing  and 
95 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

combing  Puggins,  as  was  her  custom  of  a  holi 
day  afternoon.  She  was  sitting  with  her 
hands  folded  upon  her  lap  as  if  waiting  for 
something  to  happen.  "Tell  me,"  said  I  as 
I  entered  the  boudoir  and  threw  myself  upon 
the  lounge— a  privilege  she  always  granted 
me— "tell  me  how  you  came  to  this  uncanny 
hall  to  nurse  yourself  in  idiopathy."  Never 
did  a  woman  look  healthier,  heartier  or  more 
wholesome  than  she  who  without  more  ado 
began  the  following  confession : 

' '  It  was  a  goodly  ship  that  brought  me  over, 
but  there  were  weary  years  to  follow,  and 
often  I  was  heart-sick  and  driven  almost  to 
despair.  You  will  remember  how  in  those 
days  my  society  was  sought  on  certain  occa 
sions  because  my  linguistic  accomplishments 
were  indispensable.  The  officers  of  foreign 
war-ships—Russian,  French,  German,  Italian 
—would  have  made  but  little  impression  upon 
the  members  of  our  first  families  (of  course 
it  is  the  brass  button  that  appeals  to  the  heart 
of  maidenhood)  had  I  not  been  constantly 
employed  as  interpreter  by  every  one  from 
majesty  down  to  the  least  of  these.  This  I 
found  at  times  aggravating.  There  were  those 
who  overlooked  me  on  important  occasions; 
who  seemed  to  have  forgotten  for  the  time  being 

96 


MY   LATE   WIDOW 

that  we  were  friends,  or  should  be  such,  since 
we  had  been  more  or  less  intimate  for  a  decade. 
When  my  services  became  necessary  they  were 
always  swift  to  seek  me;  and  I  have  had  the 
questionable  privilege  of  disseminating  the 
vapid  gossip  of  the  antipodean  capital  in  sev 
eral  tongues. 

"In  those  days  I  knew  the  bitterness  of 
social  toleration;  as  a  lady's  companion  I  was 
found  companionable  when  in  the  presence  of 
'my  lady.'  I  was  presumably  basking  in  the 
reflected  radiance  of  a  distinguished  company 
—that  radiance  was  nothing  to  me.  The 
serene  solitude  of  my  dainty  cottage,  the  select 
society  of  my  favorite  authors,  the  sunshine 
and  the  shadow  that  played  among  the  passion 
flowers  that  curtained  my  cool  veranda— these 
were  the  consolation  of  my  life. 

"As  is  invariably  the  case  in  small  isolated 
communities,  my  status  was  defined  by  the 
coterie,  and  for  me  there  was  apparently  no 
future  beyond  the  narrow  limits  of  the  cir 
cumscribed  path  I  was  forced  to  tread.  The 
inherited  fortitude  of  my  nature,  coupled  with 
highly  cultivated  reserve  power,  great  patience 
and  a  wonderful  faculty  of  silent  endurance— 
the  latter  is  characteristically  feminine,  but  is 
riot  the  gift  of  all  our  sex — enabled  me  to  sur- 
97 


THE   ISLAND   OP   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

vive  an  experience  which  would  have  starved 
a  less  well  seasoned  nature,  and  which  was 
slowly  but  surely  withering  my  heart. 

"In  the  midst  of  this  long  period  of  for 
bearance  there  came  a  revolution,  as  surpris 
ing  to  me,  one  of  its  chief  factors,  as  to  any 
one  in  the  kingdom.  The  brother  of  the  lady 
whose  companion  I  was  possessed  a  hearty, 
virile  nature,  but  was  a  creature  of  impulse 
and  therefore  not  always  reasonable.  I 
seemed  to  fill  him  with  aversion,  and  he  was 
unable  or  unwilling  to  disguise  the  fact ;  yet  I 
had  always  treated  him  with  the  utmost  con 
sideration.  Often  I  have  been  obliged  to  un 
ceremoniously  leave  his  presence  to  restrain 
the  tears  which  his  thoughtless — I  will  not 
suffer  myself  to  say  heartless — words  had  well- 
nigh  forced  from  my  eyes.  During  those  three 
or  four  years  our  natural  antagonism  increased 
rather  than  diminished,  and  during  this  period 
my  lot  was  pitiable.  For  us  to  be  left  alone 
together  a  few  moments,  as  was  sometimes  un 
avoidable,  was  for  a  horrible  fear  to  take  pos 
session  of  me ;  the  shadow  of  his  hate  seemed 
to  cover  and  darken  my  very  soul. 

' '  We  need  not  stop  to  discuss  the  philosophy 
of  antipathy.  It  was  well  known  among  our 
friends  and  acquaintances  that  he  and  I  could 


MY   LATE   WIDOW 

not  tolerate  one  another ;  indeed,  an  exaggera 
tion  of  our  repugnance  was  a  popular  theme 
for  discussion  among  the  gossips  in  this  very 
paradise  of  gossips.  How  they  harped  upon 
Us,  those  harpers,  when  I  and  my  enemy  were 
their  chosen  victims ! 

* '  There  was  to  be  a  concert  by  the  command 
of  His  Majesty,  of  course  the  most  fashionable 
event  of  the  season.  Amateur dom  was  shaken 
to  its  foundations;  the  court  was  to  be  there 
and  all  the  world  besides— the  little  world  that 
hung  upon  the  hem  of  the  garments  of  the 
court.  Our  house  was  well  represented.  Every 
member  of  the  family,  save  only  my  humble 
self,  had  elaborated  a  toilet  suitable  to  the 
occasion;  and  with  mingled  emotions  I  had 
seen  the  ladies  drive  away  to  the  palace  at  an 
early  hour  in  the  evening,  for  there  was  a  re 
ception  before  the  concert.  I  did  not  envy 
them ;  the  music-room  at  home  was  a  delightful 
apartment  provided  with  an  admirable  piano. 
If  I  could  not  play  or  sing  as  well  as  those 
whose  names  appeared  on  the  program  of  the 
evening  I  could  truly  say  that  we  were  all 
merely  amateurs — amateurs  in  an  amateur 
kingdom.  There  was  at  least  an  emotional 
pleasure  for  me  in  fingering  the  cool  ivory 
keys  in  the  twilight  and  in  lifting  up  my  voice 
99 


THE   ISLAND   OP   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

when  I  knew  that  no  one  could  hear  me  and  I 
need  not  be  afraid.  I  sat  in  the  music-room 
that  evening  playing  and  singing  as  I  had 
never  before  dared  play  and  sing,  and  I  found 
the  exercise  extremely  exhilarating. 

"There  was  a  pause  in  the  music;  I  had 
sung  myself  into  a  most  exalted  or  exultant 
mood,  and  was  silently  enjoying  it.  I  turned 
to  look  through  the  open  door,  across  the  green 
lowlands,  upon  the  distant  sea.  There  in  the 
doorway— leaning  against  the  side  of  it,  an 
image  of  amiable  interest— stood  the  one  who 
loathed  me! 

"As  I  stared  at  him  in  astonishment,  for  I 
thought  he  was  at  the  concert,  he  advanced 
with  hand  extended  and  said,  in  a  voice  thrill 
ing  with  tenderness— a  voice  I  did  not  know 
he  possessed :  *  I  have  wronged  you ;  forgive 
me  and  let  us  be  friends. '  My  amazement  ren 
dered  me  speechless,  but  he  seized  my  hand, 
and  I  found  that  his  touch  was  harmonious 
and  humanizing.  *  Come, '  said  he  persuasively, 
'let  us  obliterate  the  past.  Will  you  go  to  the 
concert  with  me?  It  is  not  yet  too  late  to 
enjoy  the  latter  half  of  it. ' 

"Dazed  and  half  delighted  I  acquiesced. 
You  can  imagine  the  sensation  we  created 
when,  in  the  middle  of  the  program— we  were 
100 


MY   LATE   WIDOW 

not  down  on  the  bills— he  and  I  entered  the 
palace  and  were  shown  to  seats  in  the  very 
front  row,  as  the  others  were  filled  to  the  en 
trance.  You  cannot  imagine  the  consternation 
when,  a  week  later,  he  and  I  were  married,  and 
before  the  news  had  fairly  burst  upon  the  little 
capital  like  a  thunder  clap,  we  quietly  de 
parted  for  another  island,  where,  upon  a  re 
cently  purchased  plantation,  we  began  a 
honeymoon  of  infinite  and  pathetic  mellow 
ness.  ' ' 

******* 

Puggins,  who  was  endeavoring  to  scale  the 
wall  in  quest  of  a  lizard  that  had  glued  itself 
on  the  cornice,  was  now  sent  out  of  the  boudoir 
in  disgrace.  No  one  was  more  sensitive  than 
he ;  the  very  expression  of  his  tail  was  touch 
ing  ;  he  walked  solemnly,  reluctantly,  and  with 
a  reproachful  side-glance  over  his  shoulder  at 
his  mistress,  through  the  long  room  and  with 
a  sigh  and  a  dull  thud  threw  himself  on  the 
veranda  in  an  attitude  of  despair. 

Lady  Spook  took  from  a  small  round  table 
at  her  side— there  was  ever  one  of  these  indis- 
pensables  within  her  reach — a  work-basket 
decorated  with  knots  of  ribbon,  and  selecting 
from  it  a  bit  of  embroidery,  began  busying 
her  small  plump  hands  with  dainty  stitches. 
101 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

She  resumed  her  narrative,  after  a  pause  which 
was  as  effective  as  a  rest  in  a  musical  composi 
tion,  and  stretching  myself  upon  the  lounge, 
by  her  leave,  with  my  arms  thrown  over  my 
head,  I  listened: 

"I  believe  it  possible  for  great  enemies  to 
become  great  friends;  of  course  the  cause  of 
enmity  must  be  slight,  possibly  a  mere  misun 
derstanding  or  a  natural  or  premature  antip 
athy;  under  these  circumstances  the  antago 
nists  suddenly  discover  that  their  eyes  were 
blinded  or  a  distorted  vision  had  led  them 
quite  astray.  It  is  as  if  a  pane  of  bad  window- 
glass  through  which  two  people  had  been  sul 
lenly  regarding  one  another  was  shattered  and 
the  deformed  were  transformed.  It  was  so 
with  us. 

"The  devotion  of  my  husband  was  heroic. 
As  he  had  been  rude  beyond  measure,  he  be 
came  tender  in  the  extreme.  He  seemed  to 
have  but  one  object  in  life— my  happiness; 
and  his  happiness  was  but  a  reflection  of  my 
own. 

' '  Our  plantation  lay  upon  a  headland,  above 
the  sea,  far  removed  from  any  settlement. 
Sometimes  a  guest  rode  over  the  heights  to 
spend  a  night  with  us,  but  for  the  most  part 
we  were  alone,  yet  ever  unconscious  of  our 
102 


MY   LATE   WIDOW 

loneliness.  Who  that  has  known  the  unspeak 
able  blessedness  of  newly  wedded  life,  its  full 
ness  to  overflowing,  its  exquisite  privacy,  its 
innocent  obliviousness  to  all  the  world  besides, 
its  insatiate  hunger  and  thirst  of  love,  in  a 
land  where  love  reigns  supreme;  who  that 
has  realized  all  this  will  fail  to  picture  our 
earthly  elysium  among  the  palms  upon  the 
breezy  heights  overhanging  the  delicious  sea? 

"Together  we  were  absorbed  in  the  develop 
ment  of  our  new  possessions.  I  seemed  not  to 
have  lived  till  now,  for  until  now  I  had  had 
no  deep  interest  in  life.  At  last  all,  all  was 
changed,  all  beautified  and  glorified.  Some 
times  only  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  my  husband 
as  he  rode  among  his  men  upon  the  distant 
slopes,  only  to  recognize  his  familiar  outline, 
thrilled  me  and  set  my  heart  afluttering  so 
that  I  was  glad  to  turn  away  to  recover  my 
self-possession.  The  thought  of  his  home 
coming  was  enough  to  brighten  my  spirits  at 
any  moment;  when  he  looked  in  upon  me  at 
unexpected  intervals  I  ran  to  meet  him,  flush 
ing  like  a  silly  girl,  and  the  anticipation  of  his 
return  at  evening,  the  labors  of  the  day  giving 
place  to  the  hours  of  rest,  was  a  kind  of  emo 
tional  intoxication. 

1 '  Sunday  was  our  day  of  rest,  a  day  of  rap- 
103 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

ture.  It  was  our  custom  to  read  the  Church 
of  England  service  in  honor  of  the  occasion, 
and  we  took  our  turn  at  the  prayers  and  the 
responses,  for  there  was  no  church  within 
many  miles  of  us.  A  little  Roman  Catholic 
chapel,  hidden  away  in  a  leafy  solitude,  was 
at  stated  intervals  visited  by  a  young  French 
priest,  who  came  to  shrive  the  scattered  native 
congregation  and  say  a  mass  for  them.  Him 
we  saw  and  were  glad  to  entertain,  although 
we  religiously  held  aloof  from  his  altar  rail 
and  read  over  our  own  prayers  in  our  own 
way. 

"Oh,  the  unutterable  happiness  of  that  ex 
perience,  the  repose  that  was  in  our  souls,  the 
rapture  in  our  hearts,  the  wholesome  satisfac 
tion  that  was  in  our  daily  and  hourly  lives! 
Never  did  we  refer  to  the  past;  it  seemed  to 
be  understood  between  us  that  during  that 
period  we  were  under  a  spell,  alike  painful 
to  each,  and  the  memory  of  which  was  to  be 
banished  forever.  How  we  could  have  so  mis 
understood  one  another,  how  we  could  have 
been  so  blinded  to  the  goodness  and  the  gentle 
ness  and  the  loving  kindness  that  each  inspired 
in  the  breast  of  the  other,  was  a  mystery  that 
still  remains  unsolved. 

"We    shared    all    things    generously;  our 

104 


MY   LATE   WIDOW 

tastes  were  similar,  our  pleasures  and  our 
pains  sympathetic.  As  I  look  back  upon  that 
past  it  seems  to  me  that  no  two  of  God's 
creatures  were  ever  more  perfectly  united 
than  he  and  I.  Our  little  world,  our  home- 
life,  was  so  complete  that  even  the  letters  ar 
riving  by  the  rather  uncertain  post  were 
almost  like  intruders ;  and  when  the  sometimes 
too  rough  winds  and  too  troubled  sea  pre 
vented  the  touching  of  the  inter-island  craft 
at  the  neighboring  roadstead,  we  were  in  no 
wise  disconcerted,  but  with  a  smile  and  a  shrug 
of  the  shoulders  reassured  ourselves  that  we 
were  wholly  content  and  that  no  disappoint 
ment  could  shake  our  supreme  faith  in  the 
goodness  of  the  providence  who  watched  over 
our  house  of  love.  It  seemed  as  if  the  honey 
moon  was  destined  never  to  wane;  there  are 
such  moons,  a  few  of  them;  and  there  are 
those  that  wax  and  wane  repeatedly  like  the 
celestial  luminary;  ours  burned  with  a  soft 
unchanging  radiance  in  which  we  basked  con 
tentedly,  asking  no  odds  of  any  one  that  lived. 
"Of  course  this  could  not  go  on  for  ever. 
We  were  destined  to  age  like  other  people  and 
to  suffer  the  universal  ailments  of  the  flesh, 
perchance  were  to  be  driven  out  of  our  Eden 
into  the  work-a-day  world,  where  everybody 
105 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

and  everything  is  inevitably  more  or  less  com 
mon-place;  but  these  contingencies  we  feared 
not.  With  us  love  was  enough ;  in  it  we  lived 
and  moved  and  had  our  being." 

It  was  time  for  me  to  be  thinking  of  sup 
ping  ;  it  was  time  for  her  to  be  gathering  her 
skirts  about  her  and  betaking  herself  through 
the  long  grass  to  her  vesper  meal.  However, 
I  said  nothing,  but  waited  for  her  to  continue 
her  story,  if  indeed  she  were  inclined  to  con 
tinue  it.  Presently  she  resumed,  but  with  evi 
dent  effort;  there  was  a  touch  of  hardness  in 
her  voice  as  she  said:  "One  evening  I  was 
watching  a  storm  cloud  that  enveloped  the 
mountain  at  whose  feet  we  dwelt.  The  spec 
tacle  was  startling,  for  the  lightning,  rare 
enough  with  us,  cleaved  the  whole  hemisphere 
with  a  two-edged  sword  of  wrath.  After  these 
storms  the  torrents  that  tumble  in  every  ravine 
are  sometimes  swollen  to  frightful  propor 
tions.  It  is  as  if  the  deluge  had  come  again 
and  before  its  awful  wall  of  waters  everything 
is  swept  to  destruction.  I  was  sitting  in  the 
vine-shaded  veranda  enjoying  the  reviving 
freshness  of  the  air  when  I  heard  at  a  distance 
the  wailing  of  the  natives. 

"As  you  know,  in  moments  of  either  joy  or 
sorrow  the  native  gives  way  to  a  burst  of  emo- 
106 


MY   LATE   WIDOW 

tion  which  finds  expression  in  a  high-pitched, 
tremulous,  prolonged  cry ;  it  is  a  wail  in  very 
truth,  but  whether  it  be  a  wail  of  joy  or  a 
wail  of  grief  it  is  not  always  possible  to  de 
termine  without  some  knowledge  of  the  cause 
of  it.  I  thought  how  perfectly  the  wail  ac 
corded  with  the  elements— the  reeling  palm- 
trees,  the  wildly  tossing  banana  leaves,  the 
heavy  and  dark-browed  clouds,  and  the  sheets 
of  rain  that  were  shifting  across  the  landscape 
and  the  sea.  The  wailers  drew  nearer  and 
nearer;  I  watched  them  with  interest,  and 
presently  I  saw  that  they  were  some  of  our 
own  people,  and  I  judged  from  their  distracted 
behavior  it  was  a  common  grief  that  stirred 
them.  As  they  drew  nearer  one  of  their  num 
ber  broke  away  from  the  band,  and,  running 
toward  me,  fell  prostrate  at  my  feet. 

' '  A  hot  and  sickening  wave  seemed  to  break 
over  my  heart ;  I  grew  faint  with  bewildering 
apprehension — but  you  can  guess  the  rest!" 
She  paused  for  some  moments,  but  finally  re 
sumed  :  ' '  My  husband,  riding  upon  his  circuit 
and  overtaken  in  mid-stream  by  that  ava 
lanche  of  water,  was  swept  to  his  grave  in  the 
sea.  His  body  was  recovered;  it  lies  yonder, 
and  here,  in  this  house,  I  am  as  near  to  him 
as  I  can  hope  to  get  in  this  life.  It  is  with 
107 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

melancholy  satisfaction  that  I  see  the  sun  rise 
on  these  graves— graves  of  his  companions  in 
the  dust— and  watch  the  moonlight  whitening 
the  pale  stones,  and  hear  the  rain  fall  there 
and  the  leaves  rustle,  and  from  time  to  time 
note  how  an  open  grave  marks  the  rending  of 
another  heart— yes,  many  of  them,  perchance ! 
I  am  one  of  those  miserable  ones  who  love  com 
pany,  and  there  is  enough  of  it  here,  God 
knows ! ' ' 

Just  then  the  hysterical  barking  of  her  dog 
startled  us.  Some  one  was  coming  to  remind 
her  that  supper  had  been  ready  a  good  half- 
hour.  With  the  perfect  composure  of  indif 
ference,  she  went  away  with  the  messenger. 
In  a  few  moments  I  seized  my  hat  and  cane 
and  was  glad  to  get  out  of  the  hall. 

*         *  ***** 

If  my  newly  widowed  friend  really  desired 
to  nurse  her  sorrow  she  could  not  have  found 
a  more  admirable  cradle  than  Spook  Hall.  It 
had  its  history ;  what  hall  worthy  of  the  name 
has  not?  It  seems  to  me  that  this  history  is 
•worth  recording.  Let  me  tell  it  as  it  was  told 
to  me  one  evening,  when  the  winds  were  sob 
bing  and  the  place  was  filled  with  weird  and 
unaccountable  noises. 

In  the  beginning  it  was  the  not  unusual 
108 


MY  LATE  WIDOW 

tropical  bungalow,  set  in  a  shady  grove  far 
back  from  the  highway.  Probably,  in  those 
days,  love  dwelt  there  in  seclusion,  and  was 
content  with  the  rather  limited  accommodation 
the  original  structure  afforded.  By  and  by  it 
began  to  grow,  and  it  grew  and  grew,  extend 
ing  its  wings  with  the  increase  of  the  family 
as  a  hen  spreadeth  her  wings  for  the  shelter 
ing  of  her  brood.  Upon  the  opposite  side  of 
the  somewhat  distant  highway  lay  God 's  acre ; 
it  was  a  small  enough  acre,  and.  overfull  of  the 
dust  of  the  blessed  dead;  so  it  came  to  pass 
that  other  lands  were  added  to  it,  and  these 
new  lands  lay  between  the  cottage  and  the 
highway,  and  the  highway  divided  the  lands 
in  halves;  now  the  cottage  seemed,  to  be  cut 
off  from  the  world  and,  as  it  were,  banished. 
To  be  sure,  there  was  still  a  carriage-drive  left 
open ;  it  led  down  the  side  of  the  cemetery  wall 
•  and  connected  the  highway  with  the  lawn  and 
the  garden  that  lay  round  about  the  cottage. 
Soon  enough  the  graves  began  to  multiply; 
they  crept  up  under  the  cottage  fence,  and  tall 
white  stones,  perpetuating  the  last  words  of 
love  and  grief,  looked  over  the  fence  and  shone 
brightly  in  the  sunshine  under  the  cottage 
windows.  Death  is  not  partial,  though  in  some 
cases  it  would  almost  seem  so ;  neither  is  death 
109 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

hedged  in  nor  held  aloof  by  any  barriers  that 
the  hand  of  man  may  raise  against  him ;  so  it 
came  to  pass  that  he  entered  the  cottage  and 
led  away  captive  one  and  then  another  and  yet 
anotner,  and  these  were  laid  together  in  their 
graves  upon  the  lawn  close  at  the  side  of  the 
cottage,  for  it  was  thought  kindlier  to  let  them 
sleep  their  last  sleep  near  the  old  homestead, 
and  with  no  others  of  the  silent  company  lying 
between  them  and  that  once  happy  home. 

There  it  stood,  almost  within  reach  of  the 
veranda,  the  tall  ancestral  shaft  that  bore  the 
record  of  three  generations— a  memorable 
scroll  that  the  hand  of  time  was  deliberately 
unrolling.  It  was  fenced  about,  and  the  rose 
bushes  that  had  been  planted  within  the  in- 
closure  had  long  since  hidden  the  low  mounds 
out  of  sight.  This  was  the  private  cemetery 
of  the  first  master  of  Spook  Hall,  but  it  was 
exclusively  ours  noAv.  Close  against  it  was  the 
narrow  opening  among  the  pickets  through 
which  we  entered  the  main  avenue  of  the  ceme 
tery,  and  so  made  our  way  to  the  valley  road, 
for,  as  I  have  already  stated,  the  carriage-drive 
had  become  impassable. 

As  the  family  of  our  predecessor  increased 
he  broadened  his  roof  on  one  hand  and  on  the 
other ;  a  deep  veranda  on  the  upper  side  of  the 
110 


MY   LATE   WIDOW 

house  was  made  deeper  still  and  inclosed  in 
glass.  It  was  a  refectory  in  those  days,  but 
we  found  it  a  charming  lounging-room,  a 
divan  where  I  could  burn  my  cigarette  in  com 
fort  while  Lady  Spook,  far  more  industriously 
inclined,  treaded  gaily  at  her  sewing  machine. 
It  was  likewise  a  favorite  resort  of  Puggins; 
perhaps  the  lizards  were  a  trifle  more  numer 
ous  there  and  afforded  him  better  sport ;  then, 
as  a  portion  of  the  glass  partition  was  always 
open,  he  could,  at  a  moment's  notice,  plunge 
into  the  tangled  grass  that  grew  knee-deep 
beside  the  door  and  lose  himself  in  the  damp 
shadows  of  the  wildest  looking  garden  that 
ever  grew  to  seed.  Just  above  this  strip  of 
garden  stretched  a  row  of  tumble-down  out 
houses,  so  uncanny  in  their  decay  that  I  con 
fess  I  never  had  the  courage  to  venture  an 
exploration  of  them. 

I  entered  my  apartment  in  the  wing  through 
the  library,  music-room,  refectory  and  an  odd 
combination  of  passages— they  resembled 
joints  and  elbows  in  a  pipe— which  had  been 
formed  by  the  fungus-like  growth  of  the  cot 
tage  in  this  particular  quarter.  Out  of  this 
passage  at  one  point  a  window  opened  directly 
into  the  sleeping  apartments  of  Lady  Spook; 
opposite  the  window  was  a  branch  passage 
111 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

which  had  an  opening  in  the  direction  of  the 
deserted  garden  and  out-houses ;  there  were 
small  cell-like  compartments  in  there  which  I 
did  not  care  to  examine  too  closely ;  one  never 
knows  what  one  may  find  in  such  recesses. 
But  that  inner  window !  Is  there  anything 
more  suggestive  of  the  preternatural  than  a 
glazed  window  in  the  center  of  a  house, 
through  which  the  sun  never  shines— indeed, 
through  whose  heavily  curtained  panes  no 
light  passes?  Well,  thereby  hangs  a  tale. 

Assisting  my  friend  one  day  in  moving  a 
heavy  article  from  one  part  of  her  chamber  to 
another  (these  friendly  offices  were  necessary 
in  our  case,  for  we  had  no  servant  to  call 
upon),  I  saw  upon  her  floor,  where  the  Chinese 
matting  was  somewhat  worn,  a  faint  brown 
stain.  As  she  was  scrupulously  cleanly  in  her 
house-keeping  and  had  a  wholesome  dread  of 
dust,  I  was  twitting  her  upon  having  allowed 
this  discoloration  to  escape  her  vigilant  eye. 

"Listen,"  cried  she,  with  the  superior  air 
which  the  humblest  of  women  is  bound  to  as 
sume  when  she  discovers  it  is  within  her  power 
to  enlighten  one  of  the  lords  of  creation  on  a 
subject  of  which  he  is  grossly  ignorant.  "Lis 
ten,  ' '  she  repeated,  with  a  gentle  air  of  author 
ity,  as  she  led  the  way  into  the  refectory.  A 
112 


MY  LATE   WIDOW 

deliciously  cool  breeze  from  the  mountain  was 
fluttering  the  broad  banana  leaves  that  waved 
before  us;  the  scarlet  hibiscus  blazed  in  its 
nest  of  green ;  the  spider-lilies  were  a  foun 
tain  of  fragrance.  I  listened — there  was  noth 
ing  left  for  me  to  do  but  listen. 

"He  who  lies  yonder,"  she  began,  waving 
her  fan  in  the  direction  of  the  monument  upon 
our  lawn,  "slept  in  that  chamber.  The  inner 
window  which  I  keep  fastened  and  darkened 
was  left  open  in  his  time  for  the  sake  of  the 
superior  ventilation  it  afforded.  Possibly  he 
was  a  man  whose  patience  did  not  stretch  to 
the  crack  of  doom."  Now  I  suspected  that 
my  lady  was  growing  facetious,  and  I  ven 
tured  to  encourage  her  with  a  complimentary 
smile.  ' '  Possibly  he  was  possessed  of  less  pa 
tience  than  other  men."  She  hesitated,  as  if 
this  were  an  almost  too  cruel  suggestion ;  at 
once  I  figuratively  bared  my  bosom  to  the 
storm  and  patiently  awaited  the  worst. 

"There  was  a  coolie  servant  in  the  house," 
she  continued ;  '  *  one  who,  no  doubt,  gave  both 
master  and  mistress  sufficient  cause  for  irrita 
tion.  He  had  carelessly  shattered  a  valuable 
piece  of  porcelain  and  had  in  consequence  been 
threatened  with  punishment  by  his  master.  He 
may  have  already  received  that  punishment, 
113 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

or  others  before  it,  and  so  knew  what  to  expect 
at  the  hands  of  his  employer.  I  know  not  the 
exact  circumstances,  but  this  I  know :  one 
night,  when  the  master  and  mistress  slept,  the 
coolie,  armed  with  a  frightful  weapon,  crept 
down  the  passage  and  climbed  noiselessly 
through  the  open  window  by  the  bedside  of 
the  sleepers.  There  must  have  been  a  dim 
light  in  the  chamber — a  low-hanging  moon  or 
the  luminous  stars  of  this  latitude  aided  him 
to  do  his  devilish  deed.  Lifting  the  blade  high 
above  him,  he  struck  with  all  the  hatred  of 
revenge  and  cleft  a  head  from  a  body.  God 
knows  what  other  bloody  deeds  he  might  have 
done  had  not  the  shrieks  of  the  now  awakened 
widow  alarmed  the  house.  The  murderer  fled, 
but  upon  the  floor  lay  the  tribute  of  his  ven 
geance,  and  the  horrid  flood  that  flowed  from 
it  has  left  that  indelible  witness  of  his  guilt. ' ' 

I  felt  myself  shivering  slightly  and  the  day 
seemed  suddenly  to  have  grown  dark;  then 
the  wind  rose  and  slammed  the  shutters 
throughout  the  hall,  and  upon  the  wide  roof 
fell  the  swift  shock  of  the  rain  with  a  roar  as 
of  an  avalanche  of  hail. 

That  evening  I  sat  alone  in  my  favorite 
chair  upon  the  front  veranda.  All  the  eaves 
were  dripping,  and  the  damp  air  was  dense 

114 


MY    LATE   WIDOW 

with  the  thrilling  fragrance  of  jasmine  and 
tuberose  and  large  white  lilies  half-hidden  in 
the  grass,  and  with  all  the  ghostly  flowers 
whose  odors  are  forever  associated  with  the 
dead  and  the  chamber  of  death.  I  confess  that 
I  was  nervous  and  I  preferred  sitting  there, 
with  the  memorial  shaft  towering  close  at 
hand,  to  entering  into  the  hollow  hall,  with 
the  blood-stain  on  the  floor;  and  while  I  was 
sitting  there,  trying  my  best  to  think  of  noth 
ing,  and  while  the  darkness  deepened  and  the 
silence  became  so  profound  that  I  could  hear 
my  heart  beat  huskily,  there  was  a  stirring 
among  the  rank  bushes  over  against  the  ceme 
tery,  a  rushing  sound  in  the  knee-deep  grass, 
and  out  of  the  gloom  rose  dimly  a  pale  figure 
that  was  hastening  toward  me.  I  was  frozen 
where  I  sat;  to  save  my  soul  from  everlasting 
loss  I  could  not  have  moved  a  hand  or  foot. 
Another  moment  and  the  air  was  rent  with 
such  a  piercing  cry  as  stopped  my  heart  in  its 
frantic  beating,  and  then  the  delighted  Pug- 
gins  sprang  upon  my  knee,  and  Lady  Spook, 
her  damp  skirts  clinging  about  her,  ap 
proached  with  her  customary  greeting. 

It  was  she  who  had  frightened  me  to  my  wits' 
ends;  it  was  the  joyous  bark  of  Puggins  that 
had  split  my  horrified  ears.     There  was  noth- 
115 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

ing  preternatural  in  any  of  this,  and  the  hot 
blood  that  bathed  my  body  as  soon  as  the  crisis 
was  over  assured  me  that  I  was  in  the  land  of 
the  living  and  heir  to  all  fleshly  ills. 

You  see  it  was  Friday  night.  It  had  been 
the  custom  of  my  lady  when  within  reach  of 
that  hallowed  grave  to  sit  beside  it  for  an 
hour  or  two  in  the  gloaming,  since  he  came  to 
his  death  on  a  Friday,  and  there  she  would 
ponder  upon  the  joys  of  the  past— past  joys 
but  precious  memories.  She  had  just  per 
formed  that  melancholy  office,  fulfilled  relig 
iously  and  without  fail  no  matter  how  inclem 
ent  the  season;  so  thus  she  startled  me  as  I 
had  never  before  been  startled  and  as  I  trust 
I  shall  be  startled  never  again. 

Upon  the  swinging  book-rack  in  my  study- 
chamber  were  my  favorite  books— "Robinson 
Crusoe"  and  "The  Arabian  Nights,"  richly 
illustrated;  the  King  James  Bible,  in  large, 
clear  type,  and  Walt  Whitman's  "Leaves  of 
Grass,"  the  substantial  edition  of  '67.  With 
these  I  could  have  ended  my  days  in  the  semi- 
solitude  of  Spook  Hall  and  felt  no  need  of  any 
other  companionship.  A  few  clever  sketches 
in  color  or  in  black-and-white,  the  gift  of 
artist  friends,  adorned  the  walls;  a  few  tro 
phies  of  travel  such  as  I  love  to  gather— land- 

116 


MY    LATE   WIDOW 

marks  in  my  life's  pilgrimage,  and  not  the 
least  of  them  but  could  tell  its  tale  of  romantic 
adventures— were  strewn  about,  and  these 
made  my  almost  too  sunny  chamber  very 
cheerful  and  homelike. 

In  one  corner  between  two  windows  where 
my  eyes  were  never  tempted  to  wander  in  the 
wild  garden  without,  I  sat  with  my  face  to 
the  creamy  white  wall  and  wrote  when  the 
spirit  moved  me.  I  knew  well  enough  that 
the  only  interruption  likely  to  occur,  from 
dawn  to  dark,  day  after  day,  was  the  voice  of 
my  lady  saluting  me  from  some  remote  corner 
of  the  hall,  or  her  touch  upon  the  piano  keys, 
which  was  an  aid  rather  than  an  interruption. 

I  had  but  few  acquaintances  and  cared  but 
little  to  see  them  there.  Privacy  and  an  inner 
life  are  as  necessary  to  me  as  meat  and  drink. 
Lady  Spook  had  hosts  of  friends  and  acquaint 
ances,  but  the  spookiness  of  the  hall  kept  the 
nervous  and  imaginative  at  a  distance.  Its 
peculiar  history  was  known  to  every  inhabi 
tant  of  the  kingdom,  and  the  approach  was  so 
difficult  that  even  those  who  were  in  no  wise 
superstitious  hesitated  to  visit  us. 

Sometimes  adventurous  children  hovered 
upon  the  borders  of  our  grounds,  but  if  they 
ever  had  occasion  to  enter  them  or  to  pass 
117 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

through  them  it  was  with  shy,  swift  feet  that 
they  did  so. 

Occasionally  a  native,  attracted  by  the 
abundance  of  fruit  that  remained  unfathered 
through  the  season,  begged  the  privilege  of 
filling  his  net,  and  he  was  a  thousand  times 
welcome.  The  ripe  mangoes  fell  with  a  start 
ling  thud  upon  our  roof  and  slid  unctuously 
to  the  ground,  or  we  heard  the  muffled  blows 
as  they  dropped  in  the  night  and  buried  them 
selves  in  the  grass. 

An  unfamiliar  footstep  on  that  floor  would 
have  startled  me.  I  remember  once  wandering 
through  the  hall  clad  in  a  loose,  flowing  ki 
mono  which  I  was  wont  to  wear  for  coolness 
and  comfort,  and  on  turning  one  of  the  corners 
in  the  complication  of  rooms  and  passages 
coming  suddenly  face  to  face  with  a  stranger, 
a  lady.  She  had  not  heard  my  slippered  feet ; 
she  had  found  doors  and  windows  open  wide, 
and,  believing  the  place  uninhabited  for  the 
moment,  was  exploring  with  curious  interest 
a  haunt  whose  surprising  history  she  had  not 
failed  to  learn.  Upon  our  meeting  she 
shrieked,  and  I,  struck  dumb,  staggered  back 
a  pace.  Mutual  explanations  followed  and  she 
departed,  never  to  return. 

Naturally  enough  one  is  sure  to  receive  a 
118 


MY   LATE   WIDOW 

shock  at  intervals  in  such  a  place;  but  one 
grows  used  to  them  and  perhaps  begins  to  like 
them  and  to  look  forward  to  them.  Life  under 
such  circumstances  cannot  be  altogether  dull 
—it  never  was  with  us.  Shall  I  ever  forget 
how  I  sat  alone,  hour  after  hour,  in  the  silent 
heat  of  a  long  day,  knowing  positively  that  I 
was  alone  in  the  hall  and  was  to  remain  its 
sole  occupant  for  two  clays  and  nights,  during 
which  time  Lady  Spook  sojourned  at  the  sea 
side?  The  beguiling  drowsiness  of  the  after 
noon  was  stealing  over  me  and  I  was  gradually 
succumbing  to  the  spell.  I  believed  the  place 
was  haunted,  if  ever  a  place  was  haunted,  and 
my  nerves  were  a  little  on  edge  a  good  part 
of  the  time ;  never  was  I  quite  at  my  ease.  I 
was  weary  of  my  book,  was  upon  the  point  of 
closing  my  volume,  putting  off  my  slippers, 
stretching  myself  upon  the  comfortable  couch 
under  the  ever-spread  mosquito-bar,  and  re 
signing  myself  to  the  daily  siesta.  Just  at  this 
moment,  when  I  was  drowsily  hesitating  upon 
the  brink  of  sleep,  I  heard  a  heavy  foot  stalk 
ing  toward  me— a  foot  heavier  than  a  human 
foot— that  drew  nearer  and  nearer,  but 
stealthily  and  with  frequent  pauses.  Was  it 
the  incarnation  of  something  monstrous? 
There  was  an  unearthly  sound  as  of  sawing 
119 


THE   ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

and  grinding  and  the  audible  gnashing  of 
teeth.  Surely,  thought  I,  the  devil  of  my 
infancy  might  appear  in  this  guise.  A  ter 
rific  snort  froze  the  blood  in  my  veins,  and 
then  the  whole  wing  of  the  hall  wherein  I  sat 
was  seized,  as  it  were,  and  shaken  as  by  a 
violent  convulsion  of  nature— all  this  in  the 
brightest  sunshine  of  a  glorious  summer  after 
noon. 

Ah  me !  the  unraveling  of  mysteries  is  a 
mortifying  task.  Some  neighbor's  nag  was 
tickling  his  cuticle  against  the  corner  of  my 
shaky  room.  He  snorted  again  with  the  ut 
most  satisfaction  and  whisked  his  tail  against 
the  hot  clapboards  with  a  sound  that  re 
sounded  like  a  barbaric  drum.  I  took  in  the 
situation  like  a  flash,  but  it  was  some  time 
before  I  recovered  my  normal  calm. 

If  any  one  had  assured  me,  when  I  first 
thought  of  making  Spook  Hall  my  home,  that 
it  was  blood-stained  and  full  of  noises  not 
always  easily  to  be  accounted  for,  and  that  I 
should  at  times  have  to  pass  some  days  and 
nights  there  in  absolute  solitude,  I  am  quite 
sure  that  I  should  have  hesitated  upon  the 
threshold  before  summoning  the  moral  and 
physical  courage  to  enter.  But  it  came  to 
pass,  as  the  place  grew  more  familiar  it  was 
120 


MY   LATE   WIDOW 

our  custom  to  divert  one  another  with  tales  the 
like  of  which  would  have  met  with  the  ap 
proval  of  the  writer  of  "The  Night  Side  of 
Nature."  Fortunately  there  was  always  a 
tinge  of  the  serio-comic  even  in  our  most  tragic 
moments.  "The  Ingoldsby  Legends"  from 
the  lips  of  Lady  Spook— she  was  a  most  agree 
able  reader— enlivened  many  an  evening,  and 
there  were  no  hours  too  unseasonable  for  one 
or  the  other  of  us  to  seek  the  piano-forte.  Even 
in  the  pitch-darkness  of  the  night  we  were 
wont  to  wrest  from  its  invisible  keys  weird 
melodies  appropriate  to  the  occasion. 

That  our  intercourse  was  unique  must  be 
evident  to  the  least  suspicious  reader;  doubt 
less  it  was  the  subject  of  frequent  if  not  al 
ways  favorable  comment  among  the  citizens 
of  the  tropical  metropolis  who  are  notoriously 
predisposed  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  the  action 
of  their  fellow-men.  This  mattered  nothing 
to  us,— and  yet  it  did  matter,  for  it  engendered 
a  fellow-feeling  which  was  the  cause  of  won 
drous  kindness  on  our  several  parts. 

Kindness  ?  Why  one  morning  as  I  was  pass 
ing  through  the  sun-lit  music-room  on  my  way 
to  my  breakfast  down  the  valley,  I  heard  a 
faint  voice  calling  me.  For  a  moment  I  was 
startled;  Lady  Spook  was  up  and  away  by 
121 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

sunrise,  weather  permitting,  much  exercise 
being  one  of  her  hobbies.  I  answered  the  call 
and  discovered  that  the  voice  proceeded  from 
my  lady's  chamber,  and  that  for  three  days 
my  lady  had  been  a  prisoner  there,  ill,  attended 
at  intervals  by  a  maid  who  had  come  in  search 
of  her  when  she  failed  to  make  her  punctual 
daily  round.  She  would  not  have  me  aware  of 
her  condition,  and  had  suffered  me  to  go  and 
come  in  the  belief  that  she  was  absent  from 
the  hall. 

There  was  a  kind  of  martyr-like  heroism  in 
this  that  touched  me  profoundly,  and  as  I 
strolled  leisurely  down  the  valley  road  I  pic 
tured  to  myself  the  life  of  this  woman— her 
life  from  first  to  last— so  far  as  I  knew  it;  I 
catalogued  her  sterling  excellencies,  her  nu 
merous  and  rare  accomplishments,  and  com 
pared  them  with  those  of  other  women  whom 
I  knew ;  I  then  contrasted  her  lot  with  the  lot 
of  those  whom  I  was  seeing  daily,  and  was 
conscious  of  flushing  with  indignation  at  the 
thought  of  the  injustice  of  her  fate. 

Now  I  am  a  fatalist  by  right  of  birth;  my 
Protestant  ancestors,  who  believed  in  and 
preached  predestination,  were  fatalists  of  the 
most  fatal  description.  When  I  took  into  con 
sideration  the  forlorn  lot  of  this  estimable 
122 


:  . 


MY    LATE    WIDOW 

woman,  I  asked  myself  why  I  should  be  torn 
up  by  the  roots— I  have  always  been  going 
about  with  my  roots  in  my  pockets — and  cast 
away  among  an  isolated  people;  why,  of  all 
these  people,  it  should  fall  to  my  lot  to  be 
come  the  sole  companion  of  a  solitary  whose 
suffering  had  made  her  solitude  almost  sacred  1 
I  also  was  a  lover  of  solitude,  but  more  espe 
cially  of  that  solitude  preferred  by  one  whose 
name  I  cannot  at  this  moment  recall,  but  whose 
sentiment  I  have  ever  fully  sympathized 
with— "  Yes,  surely  solitude  is  sweetest  when 
there  is  one  to  whom  we  may  say,  *  How  sweet 
is  solitude !'  '  Should  I  not  say  it  to  her? 
Was  it*  not  my  duty  to  say  it,  just  to  see  if  it 
would  not  sweeten  her  solitude  ?  This  was  my 
morning  thought  as  I  paced  the  valley  road. 

*  #  *  Jk  *  *  4 

There  is  nothing  more  delightfully  exhilar 
ating  than  to  tread  upon  delicate  ground;  it 
is  fascinating  to  talk  familiarly  on  subjects 
that  are  never,  or  rather  should  never  be,  ap 
proached  without  reverence,  and  seldom  with- 
I  out  fear.     Love  lights    that    dangerous    and 
sublime  height  beneath  whose  shadow  lies  the 
!  bottomless  abyss  of  the  ridiculous. 

Should  I  return  to  the  hall  after  breakfast 
and  talk  of  love  to  my  lady?    Shall  I  confess 
123 


THE   ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

that  we  had  already  talked  at  it  and  all  around 
it ;  that  we  had  rent  the  veil  which  sympathy 
abhors  and  revealed  our  souls  to  one  another 
in  a  rarely  perfect  fellowship  born  of  long 
suffering  shared  in  our  seclusion?    I  resolved 
to  do  this  without  delay ;  indeed,  I  had  long 
been  thinking  of  it,  and  it  was  no  difficult  task 
for  me  to  lay  before  her  a  scheme  devised,  as 
by  inspiration,  for  the  greater  happiness  of 
two  souls ;  to  warn  her  that  the  shadows  of  the 
afternoon  grow  longer  and  longer  and  broader 
and  deeper  every  hour,  and  that  the  clock  had 
struck  twelve  for  us.    It  was  easy  to  picture  a 
new  life  for  her-a  new  life  in  a  new  land; 
in  a  new  land,  for  she  must  needs  forget  the 
past  if  she  would  find  happiness  again,  and 
forgetfulness  lay  in  a  change    of    scene.     I 
touched  my  canvas  with  an  airy  brush;  I  drew 
a  dim  outline  of  hazy  heights  beyond  the  sea-, 
the  umbrageous  groves  of  that  summer-land 
were  brightened  with  the  gorgeous  plumage  of 
the  flamingo.    A  line  was  to  be  drawn  between 
the  future  and  the  past,  and  that  line  was  the 
equator.     It  is  so  easy  to  rub  out  and  begin 
again  when  one  has  put  a  whole  ocean  between 
him  and  the  shore  he  is  to  know  no  more. 

My  lady  listened  with  the  sweetest  patience. 
There  was  no  passion  in  the  blood  that  warmed 
124 


MY   LATE   WIDOW 

her  heart ;  there  was  wisdom— worldly  wisdom 
—and  there  was  womanly  sympathy,  and  the 
greatest  honesty,  and  the  fullest  understand 
ing  in  this  most  singular  courtship.  It  pro 
gressed  rather  slowly,  but  it  was  surely  pro 
gressing.  I  could  read  this  progress  in  the 
dreamier  moods  of  my  lady,  who  was  ordi 
narily  not  fond  of  dreaming ;  I  could  read  it  in 
the  character  of  the  songs  she  was  from  time 
to  time  singing,  and  in  the  sentiment  of  the 
books  she  chose  for  our  entertainment  of  an 
evening  or  of  a  drowsy  afternoon  in  the  pink- 
and-white  boudoir,  where  I  stretched  myself 
at  ease  upon  the  lounge,  at  peace  with  all  the 
world. 

I  used  to  wonder  why  everybody  could  not 
be  in  love,  and  pitied  those  who  were  not. 
Surely  it  is  not  difficult?  And  such  a  reju- 
venator  as  it  is!  My  Lady  Spook  began  to 
bloom  beautifully,  and,  of  course,  all  the 
tongues  of  the  town  were  wagging  again. 
They  knew  much  more  about  the  affairs  of  the 
hall,  down  yonder  in  the  tropical  metropolis, 
than  we  did  under  our  low-sweeping  roof  by 
our  friendly  graves. 

Well,  it  was  all  nicely  settled  for  us  with 
out  any  effort  on  our  part ;  we  were  to  be  mar 
ried  speedily  and  to  sail  away  in  a  big  ship, 
125 


THE   ISLAND   OP    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

and  to  begin  the  new  life  in  the  new  land  on 
the  other  side  of  the  globe.  Congratulations, 
coupled  with  insinuating  smiles  and  glances  of 
superior  intelligence,  fell  daily  to  our  lot.  The 
I-told-you-so  tribe  is  very  numerous  over  yon 
der,  and  we  were  quite  the  sensation  of  the 
hour. 

Then  we  broke  up  house-keeping,  and  there 
was  the  prettiest  pang  for  each  of  us  in  the 
not  very  arduous  task;  after  this  my  lady 
made  her  farewell  calls  and  announced  her  in 
tention  of  departing  by  the  very  next  steamer 
bound  for  the  nether  world.  We  sent  out  no 
cards,  but  as  we  were  looked  upon  as  eccen 
trics,  'twas  thought  'twould  be  quite  like  us 
to  marry  privately. 

I  held  my  peace ;  held  it  so  well  that  no  one 
presumed  to  disturb  it.  And  so  the  steamer 
hove  in  sight  and  lay  alongside  the  sweltering 
dock  for  six  busy  hours;  and  when  the  gong 
had  growled  its  last  growl,  and  all  those  who 
were  going  ashore  were  ordered  to  make  haste, 
the  friends  embraced  my  lady,  who,  now  quite 
pallid,  was  dissolved  in  tears,  and  the  very 
last  one  to  bid  her  God-speed  and  bon  voyage 
was  myself ! 

Perhaps  the  town  was  never  quite  so  badly 
sold  since  the  day  when  my  lady  suddenly 
126 


MY   LATE   WIDOW 

married  her  first  husband— and  how  I  did 
enjoy  it.  You  see  I  had  been  confidentially 
consulted  on  a  delicate  subject ;  she  had  con 
fided  to  me  a  secret  which  our  fellow  citizens, 
the  gossips,  were  in  ignorance  of.  One  who 
had  been  faithful  to  her  memory  these  many 
years,  hearing  that  her  hand  if  not  her  heart 
was  free  once  more,  began  a  long  campaign 
by  letter.  Again  and  again  she  had  refused  to 
surrender;  possibly  she  might  still  have  for 
tified  herself  had  I  not  begun  to  plead  his 
cause. 

It  was  a  double  wooing,  a  wooing  half  by 
proxy.  I  never  in  my  life  enjoyed  anything 
more,  unless  it  was  the  look  of  hopeless  per 
plexity  that  metamorphosed  the  faces  of  those 
friends  with  their  premature  farewells. 

Well,  that  is  all  I  have  to  tell  of  my  late 
widow.  She  was  mine  while  she  was  a  widow, 
but  now  she  is  wed  again  and  a  widow  no 
more. 

Some  time  after  her  departure  a  fancy  seized 
me  to  revisit  the  hall.  Instinctively  I  turned 
toward  the  cemetery.  The  twilight  was  im 
pending  and  the  large  stars  hung  like  golden 
globes  in  space.  I  was  thinking  of  the  many 
times  I  had  paced  that  "via  dolorosa,"  not 
exactly  sad  at  heart,  yet  sympathetic,  feeling 
127 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

myself  a  kind  of  companion  of  the  dead  who 
slept,  and  wondering  always  if  she  would  be 
in  the  hall  to  give  me  welcome,  or  if  only  those 
ticklish  tappings  (no  doubt  the  birds  under 
the  roof)  would  startle  me  in  the  solitude,  or 
the  owls  hoot  among  the  graves  as  they  often 
used  to  do. 

I  was  thinking  of  this,  and  the  graves  of  the 
half-dozen  suicides  that  were  huddled  under 
our  fence;  of  the  picturesque  disorder  that 
reigned  in  the  jungle-like  garden;  the  great 
oriental  lilies  that  ruled  among  the  weeds, 
steeped  in  dew  and  loading  the  air  with  their 
fetid  breath;  and  of  the  roses  that  grew  in 
drifts  everywhere,  and  the  luscious  fruits  de 
taching  themselves  and  falling  in  fatness 
where  they  would  never  again  by  any  eyes 
be  seen.  I  was  half-drunken  with  the  odor  of 
these,  and  I  was  absorbed  in  such  tender  mem 
ories  when  I  came  to  our  broken  palings  that 
I  was  startled  to  find  myself  there. 

Where  was  fche  creep-hole  we  once  found  so 
convenient  ?  I  looked  in  vain  for  it.  Lo !  the 
luxuriant  bushes,  left  to  themselves  for  a  little 
time  and  having  their  own  sweet  wills,  had 
interlaced  their  branches  and  barred  the  way. 
Nature  had  locked  the  entrance  to  that  Eden ; 
I  was  no  longer  welcome  to  enter.  I  raised 
128 


MY   LATE   WIDOW 

my  eyes  with  a  vivid  sense  of  the  fitness  of 
things,  and  lo !  not  a  vestige  of  the  hall  re 
mained.  The  structure  had  been  spirited  away, 
I  know  not  whither.  I  imagined  I  could  dis 
tinguish  some  traces  of  the  foundations,  now 
laid  bare,  but  the  rank  grass  was  overgrowing 
these,  and  the  dusk  was  deepening  so  rapidly 
I  could  no  longer  swear  to  any  familiar  land 
mark,  save  only  the  weather-stained  column 
that  towered  above  the  dust  of  the  original 
occupants  of  the  hall. 

Then  I  turned  away  and  never  looked  upon 
the  spot  again.  Indeed,  I  feared  that  if  I  were 
to  search  too  closely  I  should  find  that  there 
was  no  evidence  whatever  to  prove  that  the 
hall  and  my  Lady  Spook  and  my  rare  asso 
ciation  with  them  were  not  all  fiction.  Thus 
beneficent  nature  sometimes  perfects  an  ex 
perience  and  helps  the  tale-teller  to  tell  his 
tale. 


129 


ON  THE  REEF 


ON  THE  REEF 

upon  a  time— it  was  on  one  of  those 
nights  when  without  apparent  reason  the  spirit 
of  mortal  is  filled  with  vague  unrest— I  strode 
into  the  starlight  and  sought  with  a  kind  of 
desperation  the  least  frequented  paths,  such 
as  lead  away  out  of  the  borders  of  the  town 
toward  the  shadowy  hills. 

On  such  a  night  the  superstitious  note  with 
awe  the  faintest  articulation,  and  too  often  at 
tribute  the  least  sound  to  a  preternatural 
cause.  I  remember  that  the  hedges  seemed  to 
shudder  at  intervals  and  shadows  to  move 
noiselessly  before  me,  while  the  water  that 
trickled  in  the  shallow  stream  muttered  a  re 
frain  that  was  almost  like  human  speech. 

When  I  stumbled  in  the  darkness  I  was 
vexed,  and  the  still  air,  heavily  charged  with 
electricity,  was  irritating  and  aggressive. 

I  had  got  beyond  the  reach  of  voices,  as  I 
thought,  and  was  groping  in  the  deep  shade  of 
clustering  kamani  trees,  when  a  dull  murmur, 
like  the  drone  of  the  hive,  fell  upon  my  ear. 
I  paused  to  listen.  The  crickets  were  chirp 
ing  bravely,  the  rill  fell  with  a  hollow  note 

133 


THE    ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL    DELIGHTS 

into  the  pool  below,  and  from  far  away  came 
the  solemn  suspiration  of  the  sea. 

Then  I  saw  a  light  dimly  flickering  among 
the  branches  in  the  path  and  I  advanced  with 
some  caution,  for  I  was  in  no  mood  to  dis 
cover  myself  to  any  one  in  that  seeming  soli 
tude. 

A  few  paces  distant  stood  a  rude  grass  hut 
such  as  the  Hawaiian  formerly  inhabited,  but 
which,  alas,  has  been  suffered  to  fall  into  dis 
use.  A  door,  its  only  aperture,  stood  open. 
Upon  a  broad,  flat  stone  within  the  center  of 
the  hut  flamed  a  handful  of  faggots,  and  over 
these  bowed  the  withered  forms  of  two  vener 
able  Hawaiians,  who  may  have  been  the  last 
representatives  of  the  ancient  race.  They 
were  squatted  upon  their  lean  haunches,  their 
fleshless  arms  were  extended,  their  claw-like 
fingers  clasped  above  the  flames.  They  were 
both  nude,  and  the  light  that  played  about 
them  exaggerated  their  wrinkles  so  that  the 
face  of  each — I  say  it  in  all  seriousness — re 
sembled  a  baked  apple.  They  were  chanting 
in  turn  one  of  those  weird  meles,  now  seldom 
heard  and  soon  to  be  utterly  forgotten.  Their 
thin  voices  gathered  strength  as  they  re 
counted  the  triumphs  of  departed  heroes  and 
the  glory  that  has  passed  forever.  The  quiv- 
134 


ON   THE   REEF 

ering  voices  were  at  times  blended,  and  the 
ancient  bards  locked  in  a  tremulous  embrace ; 
but  at  last,  profoundly  agitated,  while  the 
tears  coursed  their  hollow  cheeks,  they  folded 
their  arms  above  their  bowed  foreheads,  and, 
shaken  with  tremors,  rocked  to  and  fro  in  the 
fading  firelight  and  were  dumb. 

They  were  bewailing  the  fate  of  their  people 
—a  fate  that  in  very  many  respects  is  to  be 
deplored.  Never  again  can  aught  be  made  of 
them,  for  their  doom  is  accomplished.  And 
how?  We  shall  see. 

Years  ago  I  sat  under  the  eaves  of  a  grass 
house  which  stood  upon  this  sand-dune  and 
looked  out  upon  the  reef  as  I  am  looking  now ; 
the  afternoon  was  waning ;  the  wind,  that  had 
for  hours  been  whirling  the  fine  sand  in  eddies 
around  the  corner  of  the  house,  began  to  fail, 
and  the  sea,  with  all  its  waves,  subsided  upon 
the  reef.  It  was  as  if  the  little  island  world 
was  about  to  compose  itself  in  sleep;  on  the 
contrary,  we  were  but  beginning  to  recover 
from  the  inertia  induced  by  the  tireless 
activity  of  the  elements. 

On  my  lap  lay  the  only  volume  I  was  able 
to  discover  in  the  vicinity,  an  ill-used  copy  of 
the  "Evidences  of  Christianity."  How  it 
135 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

came  into  the  possession  of  Pilikia,  my  host,  I 
know  not,  but  that  he  had  found  it  of  great 
service  was  evident.  At  least  half  of  the 
pages  had  already  been  disposed  of  and  the 
remnant— a  catacomb  of  white  ants  and  such 
other  vermin  as  affect  literature  in  the  tropics 
—was  sure  to  follow  in  due  course. 

Pilikia  politely  offered  me  this  precious 
volume  at  an  early  stage  of  our  acquaintance, 
for  we  were  quite  unable  to  communicate  with 
one  another,  he  being  stone  deaf  and  I  as 
good  as  dumb  in  those  days.  The  truth  is, 
I  was  awaiting  the  return  of  Kane-Pihi,  the 
man-fish,  with  whom  I  proposed  to  pass  a 
night  upon  the  reef  practicing  the  art  which 
had  already  distinguished  him  and  had  won 
for  him  the  admiration  and  the  envy  of  his 
fellow-craftsmen. 

Anon  I  closed  the  volume  with  decision; 
the  evidences  were  incomplete  and  I  was  im 
patient  for  the  arrival  of  the  man-fish,  who 
was  certainly  more  interesting  than  the  anti 
quated  specimen  of  humanity  who  sat  in  the 
corner  of  the  hut,  like  an  idol,  and  whose 
blue-black,  weather-beaten  figure-head  looked 
as  if  it  had  been  carved  out  of  a  walrus'  tusk 
and  smoked. 

I  arose  impetuously,  shook  off  my  ennui  and 

136 


ON  THE  REEF 

strolled  along  the  beach.  There  was  a  joyous 
sparkle  upon  the  sea;  little  windy  waves  slid 
up  the  sloping  sands,  curled  crisply  and  re 
tired  in  a  white  litter  of  explosive  bubbles; 
diminutive  crabs  rushed  pell-mell  before  my 
feet;  at  intervals  I  felt  the  sting  of  the  flying 
sand,  but  the  heat  and  the  burden  of  the  day 
were  about  over  and  I  began  to  lift  up  my 
heart,  when,  in  the  hollow  of  the  shore,  shel 
tered  only  by  sand  ridges,  I  saw  a  dark  object 
stretched  motionless  at  full  length.  Flotsam 
or  jetsam,  the  prize  was  mine,  and  I  hastened 
forward.  It  was  a  youth  just  out  of  his  teens, 
a  slim,  sleek  creature,  unconscious,  unclad, 
sprawled  inartistically,  absorbing  sunshine 
and  apparently  steeped  to  the  toes  in  it ;  it  was 
Kane-Pihi,  the  man-fish,  stark  asleep. 

Retiring  a  little  distance,  I  tossed  a  pebble 
upon  his  motionless  body;  then  another  and 
another,  and  finally  a  whole  handful  of  them. 
At  last  he  turned,  with  a  serpentine  move 
ment,  lifting  his  head  like  a  lizard,  swaying  it 
slowly  to  and  fro  and  looking  listlessly  upon 
the  sand  and  the  sea.  When  he  espied  me  he 
coiled  his  limbs  under  him  and  was  convulsed 
with  riotous  laughter. 

I  approached  him  and  exhausted  my  vocab 
ulary  in  five  minutes,  but  I  learned  meanwhile 
137 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

that  the  fellow  had  been  lying  there  on  the 
hot  sand  in  the  blazing  sun  for  a  good  portion 
£>f  the  day,  and  that  now  he  was  ready  to  eat. 
Two  things  on  earth  were  necessary  to  the 
existence  of  this  superior  animal — to  eat  and 
to  sleep ;  but  for  pleasure  and  profit,  for  life 
and  all  that  makes  it  livable  and  lovable,  the 
man-fish  sought  the  waters  under  the  earth. 
He  was  amphibious. 

Pilikia— born  to  trouble,  as  his  name  im 
plies,  and  like  all  who  are  never  out  of  it  living 
to  the  age  of  the  prophets— Pilikia  still  sat  in 
his  corner  when  we  returned  to  the  grass  house, 
but  upon  the  appearance  of  Kane-Pihi,  the 
apple  of  his  eye,  the  child  of  his  old  age,  per- 
adventure,  his  face  changed  suddenly,  as  if 
about  to  weep.  This  simulation  of  tearless 
agony  was  his  method  of  showing  joy.  The 
range  of  facial  expression  had  grown  limited 
with  him  and  he  now  seemed  to  be  gradually 
assuming  the  fixed,  blank  stare  of  the  dead. 
Pilikia  crawled  out  of  his  obscurity  and  we 
all  gathered  about  a  calabash  of  poi  in  the 
door  of  the  hut  as  the  sun  shot  suddenly  into 
the  sea. 

Kane-Pihi  began  to  awaken  as  the  twilight 
deepened;  his  eyes— he  had  bronze  eyes,  that 
were  opaque  in  the  sunshine— grew  limpid  and 
138 


ON  THE  BEEF 

lustrous ;  he  began  to  search  the  wave  as  if  he 
could  pluck  from  it  the  heart  of  its  mystery. 
Perhaps  he  could;  perhaps  its  color  and  tex 
ture  imparted  to  him  secrets  unknown  to  us. 
Now  and  again  he  sang  to  himself  fragments 
of  meles  that  sounded  like  invocations  and 
added  sacredness  to  an  hour  exquisitely  beau 
tiful  and  pathetic. 

The  sea  advanced  and  retreated  noiselessly 
along  the  shelving  sand ;  each  wavelet,  unroll 
ing  like  a  scroll,  told  its  separate  story  and 
was  withdrawn  into  the  deep.  For  a  moment 
the  shore  was  glossed  where  the  waters  had 
passed  over  it,  but  this  varnish  immediately 
grew  clouded,  like  a  mirror  that  has  been 
breathed  upon,  and  then  vanished,  leaving 
only  a  dark  shadow  in  the  moist  sand.  Long, 
luminous  bars  lay  upon  the  more  distant 
water,  and  beyond  these  the  rough  edges  of 
the  reef,  now  exposed  to  the  air,  were  lightly 
powdered  with  filmy  and  prismatic  spray.  It 
was  dark  when  we  set  forth  in  Kane-Pihi's 
canoe.  Pilikia,  who  also  revived  under  the 
beneficent  influence  of  the  stars,  followed  us 
to  the  water's  edge  and  even  made  a  feint  of 
aiding  us  in  the  launch  of  our  canoe.  Our 
course  lay  down  the  coast,  within  the  reef. 
We  might  easily  have  waded  throughout  the 
139 


THE   ISLAND   OP    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

length  and  breadth  of  the  lagoon  but  for  the 
shoals  of  sharp  coral  and  the  jagged  hills 
among  them,  of  which  I  knew  nothing,  though 
each  coral  prong  was  familiar  to  the  man-fish, 
it  having  been  his  chief  end  to  chart  every 
inch  of  the  lagoon  at  an  early  stage  in  his 
career. 

Oh,  heavenly  night!  We  floated  upon  an 
element  that  seemed  a  denser  atmosphere ;  this 
delicious  air  was  like  the  spirit  of  God  mov 
ing  upon  the  face  of  the  waters.  We  were 
both  silent,  for  the  earth  and  sea  were  silent, 
but  now  and  again  we  heard  a  "glug"  under 
our  bow,  where  a  bewildered  fish  had  swum 
into  the  air  by  mistake  and  dived  back  in 
dismay. 

The  mysterious  voyage  filled  me  with  a  kind 
of  awe,  such  as  a  surprised  soul  might  feel  after 
sudden  death,  upon  finding  itself  propelled 
slowly  across  the  Styx  by  an  almost  invisible 
Charon.  In  this  mood  we  rounded  the  lagoon, 
and  lo,  the  sea  radiant  with  flaming  torches 
and  peopled  by  a  race  of  shadowy  fishers — 
bronzed,  naked,  statuesque  !  The  superb  spec 
tacle  inspired  Kane-Pihi;  with  an  exclama 
tion  of  delight  he  plunged  his  paddle  into  the 
water  and  a  half  dozen  vigorous  strokes 
brought  us  where  he  was  at  once  recognized 

140 


ON   THE  REEF 

and  received  with  every  demonstration  of  af 
fection. 

In  the  charmed  circle  all  things  were  trans 
formed  ;  the  earth  and  the  very  stars  were  for 
gotten;  the  sea  was  like  wine,  ripples  of  per 
fume  played  upon  its  surface;  the  torches 
above  it  were  imaged  in  the  water  below, 
where  the  coral  glowed  resplendently  and  the 
bewildered  fish  darted  to  their  doom  in  basket- 
nets  or  at  the  point  of  the  glancing  spear. 
The  fishers  were  for  the  most  part  dumb  as 
statues;  with  a  thousand  exquisite  poses  they 
searched  the  luminous  depths  for  the  fleet 
prey  that  shone  like  momentary  sunbeams  and 
were  as  speedily  captured  and  transferred  to 
their  canoes.  In  this  graceful  art  the  women, 
costumed  like  fabled  sea-nymphs,  were  as  skill 
ful  as  the  men,  and  even  when  we  had  drifted 
in  the  shallows,  and  they,  descending  into  the 
sea,  were  wandering  apart  each  with  a  torch 
in  one  hand,  a  net  in  the  other  and  a  sack 
hanging  upon  the  hip,  they  were  as  fearless 
and  as  active  as  the  best  man  among  them. 
But  this  kind  of  fishing  was  mere  child's  play 
in  the  eyes  of  Kane-Pihi  and  only  the  diver 
sion  of  a  night. 

Hour  after  hour  the  flotilla  dazzled  upon 
the  tideless  lagoon;  it  was  only  when  the 
141 


THE   ISLANB   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

waters  seemed  to  have  been  robbed  of  their 
last  vestige  of  finny  life  that  we  separated  and 
soared  like  meteors  into  outer  darkness.  Then 
I  became  conscious  of  fatigue,  and  throwing 
myself  upon  a  mat  in  the  corner  of  Pilikia's 
grass  house  I  slept  while  Kane-Pihi  sang  into 
the  dawn. 

In  those  days  a  barren  plain,  relieved  here 
and  there  by  stretches  of  salt-marsh  land,  lay 
between  the  fishing  grounds  and  the  seaport. 
It  was  seldom  that  Kane-Pihi  entered  the 
town.  A  gentle  savage,  whose  childhood  had 
been  passed  upon  the  shore  of  the  least  civil 
ized  of  the  islands  of  the  group,  his  uncon 
ventional  life  had  scarcely  fitted  him  for  any 
thing  so  confining  as  a  pavement  or  a  trim 
garden  spot,  hedged  or  fenced  about  in  indi 
vidual  exclusiveness. 

He  had  lounged  in  the  fish  market,  where 
his  fame  had  preceded  him,  but  the  clamoring 
crowd  soon  drove  him  forth,  and  when  he 
had  sat  for  an  hour  in  silent  contemplation  of 
the  street  traffic,  he  strode  soberly  back  to  the 
hut  on  the  sand  dunes  and  dreamed  away  the 
disgust  with  which  such  method  and  industry 
invariably  inspired  him. 

We  sat  together  one  morning  looking  far 
off  upon  the  town  and  far  off  upon  the  sea  in 
142 


ON  THE  REEF 

comfortable  idleness.  We  had  hoped  for  a 
change  in  the  spirit  of  our  dream  and  it  came 
presently,  for  it  was  observed  that  a  school  of 
fish  was  making  for  the  shore.  In  an  instant 
several  canoes  were  slid  into  the  water  and  a 
dozen  excited  natives  went  in  hot  pursuit  of 
the  spoil. 

Before  the  day  of  dynamite,  deep-sea  fishing 
was  an  art  in  which  few  excelled,  but  with 
Kane-Pihi  it  was  a  specialty,  and  when  we  had 
weathered  the  breakers  and  were  out  upon 
the  swell  beyond  the  reef,  he  dropped  a  hand 
ful  of  bait  into  the  water  and  watched  it  as  it 
slowly  sank;  then  he  cautiously  climbed  out 
of  the  canoe  and  with  fearless  resignation  sank 
after  it.  It  was  as  if  he  were  braving  all  the 
laws  of  nature— as  if  he  were  defying  death 
itself. 

Breathlessly  I  watched  him  as  he  sank  feet 
foremost  into  the  depths;  I  saw  his  motion 
less  body  slowly  descending,  growing  dimmer 
in  outline  all  the  while ;  I  saw  the  fish  circling 
suspiciously  about  him,  attracted  by  the  bait, 
which  they  were  greedily  devouring,  and  evi 
dently  filled  with  curiosity  as  to  the  nature  of 
the  man-fish  in  their  midst,  who,  like  a  corpse, 
was  fading  in  the  horrible  obscurity  of  the 
sea ;  then,  at  the  moment  when  it  seemed  that 
143 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

life  must  have  deserted  him,  with  a  sudden 
lunge  he  buried  a  knife  in  the  body  of  a  huge 
fish  and  rose  like  a  water-wraith  out  of  the 
waves.  It  was  the  work  of  a  moment  only, 
but  it  seemed  to  me  an  age  since  I  had  seen 
the  sea  close  over  him. 

Several  times  he  repeated  the  act  success 
fully,  and  it  became  difficult  to  see  through 
the  blood-stained  water,  but  by  moving  the 
canoes  cautiously  from  point  to  point,  we  still 
kept  within  reach  of  the  shoal  and  avoided 
the  crimson  cloud  that  marked  the  scene  of 
Kane-Pihi's  recent  marine  combat.  A  highly 
successful  catch  was  the  reward  of  his  prowess, 
and  with  our  canoe  well  laden,  we  headed  for 
the  shore. 

Those  who  were  watching  us  from  the  beach 
must  have  lost  sight  of  us  at  intervals  as  we 
rose  and  sank  upon  the  rollers.  Sometimes 
the  comber  that  broke  between  us  and  the  land 
looked  like  a  precipitated  avalanche  of  snow, 
and  the  mass  behind  us  swelled  and  burst, 
darting  forward  with  an  impetuosity  that 
threatened  the  destruction  of  our  frail  craft. 
But  into  the  wilderness  of  this  tumultuous  sea 
it  was  Kane-Pihi's  intention  to  venture,  and 
through  the  midst  of  it  lay  our  perilous  course. 
With  a  paddle  that  was  never  at  rest,  we 
144 


ON   THE  REEF 

hovered  upon  the  outer  edges  of  the  reef, 
hastening  over  the  brow  of  a  billow  before  it 
broke,  for  it  was  only  upon  the  bosom  of  one 
of  these  monsters  that  we  could  hope  for 
safety,  and  the  one  had  not  yet  arrived.  Like 
a  bird's  pinion,  the  paddle  held  us  poised — 
suspended  in  mid-air,  I  had  almost  written — 
until,  with  an  impulse  which  was  an  inspira 
tion,  Kane-Pihi  plowed  the  sea  with  swift, 
impetuous  strokes.  I  felt  the  canoe  leap  for 
ward  before  a  wave  that  seemed  rising  to  over 
whelm  us;  we  rose  with  it,  on  the  inner  slope 
of  it,  just  out  of  reach  of  the  torrent  of  foam 
that  hissed  and  roared  behind  us.  How  we  sped 
onward  in  that  mad  chase !  The  very  canoe 
seemed  instilled  with  life;  nervous  tremors 
seized  it;  it  was  almost  as  if  some  invisible 
power  were  about  to  sweep  it  from  under  us; 
so  fast  it  fled  over  the  oily  slope  of  the  huge 
wave,  at  the  top  of  which  tumbled  a  world  of 
foam— and  thus,  with  hardly  so  much  as  a 
stroke  of  the  paddle,  after  we  were  well  settled 
on  the  down  grade,  we  sprang  like  a  flying-fish 
into  the  tranquil  waters  of  the  lagoon  and  then 
turned  to  one  another  with  a  half-gasp,  as  if 
we  had  been  delivered  from  sudden  death. 

This  was  the  life  of  the  man-fish ;  if  he  had 
been  upset  in  the  breakers    he  would    have 
145 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

come  to  shore  none  the  worse  for  it,  but  my 
blood  would  have  stained  the  reef  for  a  mo 
ment  and  my  bones  found  coral  sepulture. 

Thus  he  played  with  the  elements— having 
not  so  much  vanity  as  a  child,  nor  so  much 
wisdom  either,  though  he  was  weather  wise, 
knew  all  about  the  moods  of  the  wind  and 
waves,  could  do  everything  but  shape  them— 
and  there  I  left  him  to  sleep  away  the  hot 
hours  in  the  hot  sun  and  sand;  to  eat  when 
he  listed  and  wait  upon  the  turning  of  the 
tides,  or  the  advent  of  those  fishy  episodes 
that  were  events  in  his  life ;  a  perfectly  con 
stituted  creature,  whose  highest  ambition  he 
could  himself  satisfy  at  almost  any  moment; 
who,  I  venture  to  affirm,  never  did  harm  to 
any  one,  and  who  unquestionably  was,  in  his 
line,  a  complete  and  unqualified  success— in 
brief,  a  perfect  human  animal,  who  was  doing 
in  his  own  way  and  in  his  own  good  time  what 
he  could  towards  destroying  the  last  vestiges 
of  the  " Evidences  of  Christianity." 

In  revisiting  an  inconsiderable  community 
nothing  is  more  natural  than  for  one  to  pick 
up  the  threads  where  they  were  dropped  and 
then  seek  to  work  out  the  story  of  the  lives  of 
those  with  whom  he  has  been  associated  in 
146 


ON   THE  REEF 

former  years,  and  in  this  wise  I  was  busy 
enough  for  some  weeks  upon  my  return  to 
Honolulu. 

I  soon  began  to  familiarize  myself  with  all 
that  had  transpired  in  the  intervening  decade, 
and  was  making  lazy  pilgrimages  to  various 
points  of  interest,  when  it  occurred  to  me  that 
the  prison  was  still  unvisited. 

In  the  delectable  kingdom  of  which  I  write 
the  law-breakers  in  former  times  were  con 
demned  to  a  period  of  servitude  upon  the  reef. 
There,  at  low  water,  they  hewed  out  the  coral 
blocks,  of  which  many  of  the  early  buildings 
were  constructed,  and  to  this  day  a  convict  is 
spoken  of  as  being  "on  the  reef,"  although 
coral  has  given  place  to  brick  and  stone  and 
timber,  and  the  reef  is  comparatively  deserted. 

At  once,  or  as  nearly  on  the  instant  as  one 
ever  gets  in  an  easy-going  land,  I  made  appli 
cation  at  the  gate  of  the  neatest,  coziest,  clean 
est  and  most  cheerful  House  of  Correction  in 
the  world.  In  form  and  color  only  is  it  out 
wardly  severe,  and  even  this  is  the  kind  of 
severity  affected  by  those  suburban  residents 
who  build  angular,  gray  monuments  of  ma 
sonry  and  inhabit  them  in  an  uncomfortably 
mediaeval  frame  of  mind.  It  stands  upon  a 
coral  ridge  and  is  almost  surrounded  by  fish- 
147 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

ponds,  mud-flats  and  salt-marshes.  It  is  ap 
proached  by  a  well-kept,  but  unsheltered, 
coral-dusted  drive,  that  glares  in  the  sunshine 
and  moonlight  as  if  to  magnify  the  shadow  of 
him  who  is  being  led  away  captive,  or  to  cast 
a  glory  about  the  feet  of  the  one  who  is  set 
free.  I  knocked  with  a  knocker  surmounted 
by  a  British  lion  in  bronze;  the  gate  was 
immediately  opened  by  a  native  guard  in  a 
dark  uniform,  who,  like  all  natives  in  dark 
uniforms,  looked  exceedingly  stuffy  and  un 
comfortable.  I  asked  leave  to  enter.  He 
seemed  to  think  I  had  done  him  a  favor  and 
honor  in  calling  upon  such  a  very  warm  day 
and  at  once  waved  me  gracefully  across  a 
court  that  was  as  trim  and  complete  as  a  mod 
ern  stage  setting  for  an  act  in  a  society  drama. 
There  was,  I  confess,  a  superfluity  of  very 
neat  stonework  in  wall  and  pavement;  but 
there  were  flower  plots  quite  like  stage  flower 
plots  and  a  moderate  perspective  which  seemed 
heightened  by  exaggerated  fore-shortening,  all 
of  which  was  so  obviously  evident  to  the 
naked  eye. 

Other  guards,  perched  in  picturesque  nooks 
and  corners,  smiled  a  welcome  as  I  advanced. 
The  original  stuffed  one,  wlio  had  backed  me 
chanically  into  his  little  sentry-box  out  of  the 
148 


ON   THE  REEF 

sun,  Was  also  smiling,  and  smiling,  very 
broadly  for  a  man  on  serious  duty. 

Might  I  come  in  and  inspect  the  prison? 
Assuredly.  Would  I  only  be  good  enough  to 
look  at  everything,  see  everybody,  go  every 
where  and  then  graciously  inscribe  my  name 
in  the  finest  of  visitors'  books,  with  the  very 
whitest  of  paper  and  a  very  brave  array  of 
signatures  ?  I  went  in  and  out,  up  and  down, 
over  and  across  and  back  again.  The  valley 
of  Rasselas  could  not  have  been  more  peace 
ful  than  was  the  inner  court  of  that  island 
jail,  with  its  spreading  kamani  tree  in  the 
midst  thereof.  The  keeper  apologized  for  the 
smallness  of  his  family  at  the  moment;  he 
begged  to  assure  me  that  there  were  more  than 
I  found  present;  that  the  house  was  always 
full ;  those  whom  I  saw  were  the  lame,  the  halt 
and  the  blind ;  the  able-bodied  were  all  out  at 
work  on  the  road,  clad  in  garments  of  two 
colors— half  and  half,  like  a  chorus  in  Boccac 
cio— at  the  expense  of  the  amiable  Govern 
ment. 

If  those  of  the  infirmary,  sunning  them 
selves  in  the  court,  were  so  merry,  what  must 
be  the  state  of  the  able-bodied,  thought  I.  I 
had  seen  detachments  of  them  at  their  work 
—work  which  they  evidently  did  not  take  to 
149 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL    DELIGHTS 

heart,  but,  on  the  contrary,  regarded  in  the 
light  of  a  somewhat  tedious  joke. 

While  I  was  absorbed  in  the  legends  of  the 
local  museum,  illustrated  with  celebrated 
shackles,  bits  of  hangman 's  rope,  blood-stained 
implements  of  destruction  and  a  whole  rogue 's 
gallery  of  interesting  criminals,  there  was  a 
sound  of  revelry,  and  lo!  the  prisoners  who 
had  had  their  outing  were  returning  joyously 
to  this  haven  of  rest,  and  some  of  them  with 
out  a  keeper.  Chief  among  the  Ishmaelitish 
crew  was  one  who  wore  his  prison  garb  jaun 
tily,  who  betrayed  a  tendency  to  good-natured 
bravado  and  who  kept  his  fellows  on  a  roar. 
The  Warden  presently  claimed  my  attention 
and  told  me  something  of  the  prisoner's  his 
tory.  He  had  been  reared  among  a  primitive 
people ;  was  superstitious,  ingenuous,  confid 
ing;  knew  little  or  nothing  of  foreign  ways 
and  manners  and  cared  little  to  hear  of  them. 
The  simplicity  of  his  life  assured  his  perpetual 
happiness,  but  of  course  there  was  no  hope 
of  his  development— he  must  forever  remain 
contented  with  his  lot  and  perish  like  the  beast 
of  the  field,  if  nature  were  to  take  her  course ; 
but  nature  was  not  permitted  to  take  her 
course;  she  seldom,  or  never,  is  nowadays. 

An  itinerant  evangelist  arrived  in  Honolulu 
150 


ON   THE  REEF 

and  began  his  work.  The  Hawaiian  is  nothing 
if  not  emotional.  You  may  rouse  him  to  the 
pitch  of  frenzy,  and  he  will  subside  without 
having  achieved  anything  more  than  a  thrill ; 
but  the  thrill  is  very  much  to  him  and  is 
worth  striving  for.  The  natives  became  as 
wax  in  the  presence  of  this  magnetic  exhorter. 
Prayer  meetings  were  held  night  and  day. 
There  was  a  corner  in  New  Testaments  and 
hymn-books.  Prophets— whether  true  or  false 
you  will  decide  for  yourselves— arose  in  num 
bers,  and  the  Scriptures  were  very  freely  in 
terpreted.  Yet,  if  out  of  the  mouths  of  babes 
and  sucklings  cometh  forth  wisdom,  it  may  be 
that  these  dark  ones  were  wiser  in  that  day 
than  the  children  of  light.  Natives  were  gath 
ering  from  far  and  near,  attracted  by  the 
rumors  which  surcharged  the  atmosphere  and 
by  the  "messenger  of  the  lord,"  who  ran  to 
and  fro  gathering  the  lost  sheep  into  the  fold 
of  Kaumakapili.  This  youth  who,  while  we 
discussed  him,  was  regaling  the  prisoners  in 
the  courtyard  with  a  hula-hula,  was  finally 
seduced  into  the  town  and  ultimately  into  the 
fold. 

Kaumakapili,  whatever  may  be  said  of  its 
evasive  order  of  architecture,  has  a  reputation 
established  beyond  question,  and  the  evening 

151 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

meetings  held  in  that  try  sting-place  are  ever 
popular  with  the  young.  Hither  came  this 
child  of  nature,  and  here,  listening  to  the  ex 
periences  most  eloquently  detailed  of  those 
who  had  turned  from  the  error  of  their  ways 
and  found  salvation  under  the  eaves  of  Kau- 
makapili,  he  in  his  turn  repented— of  what  it 
is  not  easy  to  conjecture— and  was  baptized 
in  the  name  of  the  eternal  Trinity. 

It  is  my  belief  that  the  native  modesty  of 
the  Hawaiians,  and  of  all  unclad  races,  is  ex 
tinguished  the  moment  they  are  slipped  under 
cover.  They  put  on  vice  as  a  garment  and 
with  knowledge  comes  the  desire  for  evil;  so 
when  this  youth  got  into  foreign  clothing  he 
straightway  began  to  backslide.  He  picked  up 
bits  of  English,  grew  sharp  at  a  bargain, 
learned  to  lie  a  little  when  necessary,  and  to 
cheat  now  and  again.  He  took  that  which 
was  not  his,  not  because  he  meant  to  defraud 
the  owner  of  it,  but  because  he  needed  it  him 
self,  and  finding  it  in  his  way  laid  hands  on 
it.  This  he  used  to  do  before  he  knew  it  was 
a  sin,  and  in  those  days  he  expected  you  to 
take  of  his  possessions  in  like  manner  accord 
ing  to  your  need,  but  now  there  was  a  new 
pleasure  in  doing  it ;  the  excitement  of  secrecy 
added  an  interest  to  the  act  which  he  had 
152 


ON  THE  REEF 

never  known  until  this  hour.  God  pity  him! 
Many  and  various  experiences  sharpened  the 
convert's  wits,  and  he  became  one  of  the 
cleverest  boys  in  town— one  on  whom  its  mild- 
eyed  constabulary  bent  loving  glances;  but 
his  career  was  shortened  for  having  shattered 
one  of  the  commandments — the  only  one  of 
the  ten  whose  number  shall  be  nameless — he 
was  arrested,  tried,  convicted,  and  was  now 
serving  out  his  time  with  charming  abandon. 
His  story  touched  me,  though  it  was  not  with 
out  parallel  in  the  kingdom.  There,  indeed,  it 
is  an  oft-told  tale. 

We  descended  into  the  courtyard,  where  the 
young  rascal  was  beguiling  his  fellows,  and  I 
saw— I  had  suspected  it— that  he  was  none 
other  than  my  young  friend  of  yore  com 
pletely  transformed  by  civilization— in  other 
words,  Kane-Pihi,  the  man-fish,  out  of  his  ele 
ment.  We  had  a  few  moments '  conversation ; 
these  few  were  sufficient  to  convince  me  that 
his  case  was  hopeless.  He  could  never  again 
return  to  the  life  to  which  he  was  born  and 
in  which  it  seemed  that  he  could  do  no  guile ; 
for  those  with  whom  he  was  associated  were 
as  guileless  as  he,  and  they  were  alike  subject 
to  no  temptations  and  no  snares ;  but  he  must 
now  go  on  to  the  bitter  end,  for  he  had  eaten 
153 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

of  the  tree  of  knowledge  and  fallen  in  its 
shade. 

As  for  the  ancient  Pilikia,  it  was  pan  pilikia 
with  him;  his  troubles  were  over.  When  he 
saw  the  fate  of  his  idol  and  that  no  pleading 
and  no  incantation  could  bring  the  lad  to  his 
right  mind,  the  old  man  turned  his  face  to  the 
wall  and  gave  up  the  ghost;  he  tasted  death 
and  found  it  sweeter  than  the  new  life  which 
had  defrauded  him  of  his  own.  The  boy  spoke 
of  it  as  a  matter  of  course ;  all  who  live  must 
die,  and,  Heaven  knows,  as  the  boy  implied, 
he  had  lived  long  enough;  and  with  this  he 
returned  to  the  dance. 

The  chains  of  the  jail  birds  rang  gayly  over 
the  battlements  as  I  bade  farewell  to  the 
keeper  and  the  kept.  Among  the  latter  are 
several  of  the  graduates  of  Lahainaluna,  the 
Protestant  Theological  Seminary  of  the  king 
dom.  The  little  sentinel  showed  me  out,  full 
of  pride  and  good  cheer  and  swelling  bravely 
in  his  stuffed  jacket;  and  the  key  clanked 
musically  in  the  big  lock  as  I  set  my  face  to 
ward  town.  It  is  said  that  this  prison  is  the 
despair  of  the  rising  generation;  that  those 
who  are  turned  from  it  pine  until  they  once 
more  enjoy  its  inexpensive  hospitality;  for 
154 


ON  THE  REEF 

here  the  merriest  and  the  mildest  people  in 
the  world  are  prisoners. 

Courage,  my  children !  If  you  can  only  be 
naughty  enough  you,  too,  in  the  course  of  time, 
shall  inherit  the  penitentiary. 

Again  I  look  upon  the  reef,  but  now  from 
a  hillslope  skirted  by  a  belt  of  perennial  ver 
dure;  between  us  a  vein  of  water,  the  pulse 
of  the  sea,  throbs  languidly.  The  reef,  an 
amber  shoal,  seems  to  rise  and  float  twice  in 
the  four  and  twenty  hours— as  the  tide  falls— 
and  to  slowly  subside  meanwhile,  until  much 
of  it  is  submerged,  but  there  is  always  a  visible 
strip  of  rank  green  grass,  and  upon  it  is 
perched  a  cluster  of  low  whitewashed  hovels 
just  above  highwater  mark— the  whited  sepul- 
chers  of  the  lazaretto. 

It  is  possible  to  drive  through  the  shallows 
that  ripple  between  the  reef  and  the  mainland 
when  the  tide  is  out.  Indeed,  one  may  wade 
through  it  then  without  much  difficulty,  but 
the  lazaretto  is  zealously  guarded  when  pes 
tilence  has  filled  it  with  tenants,  and  it  is  rare 
indeed  that  any  one  succeeds  in  escaping  from 
this  desolate,  wind-swept  strand.  They  are 
pretty  enough  when  seen  from  shore,  these 
small  white  hovels,  and  especially  so  when, 
155 


THE    ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

looking  from  a  distant  hilltop,  one  sees  the 
sun  launch  from  a  rent  cloud  his  golden  bolts 
upon  them,  or  a  rainbow  precipitates  its 
curved  torrent  in  their  midst,  flooding  them 
with  prismatic  splendor.  The  reef,  or  rather 
that  part  of  the  reef— for  it  is  all  one,  though 
a  ship  may  pass  through  the  cleft  in  it  at  long 
intervals — seems  like  a  phantom  island  to  most 
of  us,  for  there  are  times  when  it  has  well-nigh 
disappeared  and  when  even  the  little  huts  are 
almost  obscured  by  dark  cloud-shadows,  and 
then  again  it  shines  in  glory  and  the  silver 
surf  beyond  it  leaps  against  a  wall  of  sapphire, 
and  the  sands  glisten  like  refined  gold. 

It  was  during  my  third  visit  to  the  Hawaiian 
capital  when,  having  looked  off  upon  the  reef 
night  and  morning,  and  at  midday  and  moon 
light,  from  a  serene  height,  I  grew  to  know 
it  as  a  theme  capable  of  infinite  variation;  a 
kind  of  poem  to  which  every  day,  and  almost 
every  hour,  added  a  new  stanza ;  a  picture  that 
was  always  complete,  though  never  finished. 

About  this  time  it  was  publicly  announced 
that  a  great  luau  would  be  given  at  the  laza 
retto,  the  occasion  being  the  anniversary  of  the 
staying  of  the  plague.  Now  there  is  no  abso 
lute  necessity  for  the  introduction  of  smallpox 
into  the  Hawaiian  kingdom ;  among  the  natives 
156 


ON  THE  REEF 

the  measles  are  sufficiently  destructive ;  but  the 
smallpox  has  appeared  and  desolated  the  peo 
ple  more  than  once.  In  such  cases  it  is  hard 
to  segregate  the  victims,  for  love  is  stronger 
than  death,  and  too  often  the  seeds  of  death  are 
nourished  in  the  bosom  of  love.  But  a  year  or 
more  before  my  third  visit,  by  persistent 
energy  the  authorities  gathered  some  hundreds 
of  natives,  and  not  a  few  foreigners,  upon  the 
reef,  and  of  these  no  small  proportion  per 
ished,  and  the  bodies  of  the  natives  were  in 
terred  in  the  sand.  I  think  of  that  sad  season 
when  I  look  upon  the  reef  of  an  evening  and 
behold  the  watch-fires  of  the  quarantine  twink 
ling  across  the  sea,  and  when,  by  daylight,  the 
sequestered  coolies  swarm  like  ants  upon  the 
sand,  yearning,  no  doubt,  as  souls  in  purga 
tory,  for  the  heavenly  hills  which  we  inhabit*. 

In  common  with  the  masses,  I  crossed  the 
ford  on  the  day  appointed  and  joined  them  at 
the  luau  on  the  reef.  A  temporary  lanai,  or 
marquee,  had  been  erected  for  the  feast;  the 
feast  is  the  foundation  of  a  luau.  Mu 
sicians  were  there  and  hula  dancers,  for  with 
out  these  no  luau  is  worthy  of  the  name. 

There  was  eating,  overmuch  of  it,  and  tem 
perate  drinking  and  music  almost  incessantly. 
Many  of  the  songs  were  composed  for  the  oc- 
157 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

casion.  The  improvisatori  were  chanting  the 
requiems  for  the  dead,  the  eulogies  on  the 
living  and  in  each  case  stirring  the  hearts  of 
the  listeners  to  pathetic  raptures. 

Long  meles  in  praise  of  those  who  imperiled 
their  lives  for  the  sake  of  the  suffering  ones 
were  droned  to  the  dolorous  accompaniment  of 
mourners  vociferously  wailing  among  the 
tombs.  It  was  when  the  foreign  element, 
drawn  thither  by  curiosity,  had  returned  to 
town — when  the  sun  had  sunk  into  the  golden 
flood  and  the  rich  twilight  was  melting  into 
darkness— that  the  natives  began  to  abandon 
themselves  to  those  rites  which  we  call  heathen, 
and  which,  though  forbidden  by  Christian  law 
and  to  some  extent  obsolete,  still  sway  them 
irresistibly  in  their  more  emotional  moods.  It 
was  the  hula-hula  that  alone  satisfied  them, 
and  rhythmical  refrains  from  a  mythology 
that  defies  translation,  and  mysterious  invo 
cations  to  the  unforgotten  gods.  Call  it  orgy 
if  you  will;  there  was  in  it  an  expression  of 
feeling,  momentary  it  may  be,  but  nevertheless 
profound ;  a  display  of  emotion  that  was  con 
tagious.  The  ecstasies  of  the  dancers  mingled 
strangely  with  the  agonies  of  the  bereaved, 
and  when  the  music  and  dancing  had  finally 
ceased  and  the  sea  seemed  to  have  parted  to 
158 


ON  THE  REEF 

let  the  multitude  pass  dry  shod  to  the  shore, 
there  were  those  who  lingered  yet  among  the 
lonely  graves,  their  foreheads  prone  upon  the 
sand,  their  hearts  broken,  and  their  throats 
hoarse  with  the  howl  of  despair.  Among  these 
were  some  who  came  to  weep  for  one  who  had 
passed  too  rapidly  from  the  simplicity  of  the 
savage  to  the  duplicity  of  civilized  man.  I 
had  known  him  in  his  prime  and  in  his  de 
generacy,  and  now  I  knew  that  somewhere 
among  the  bleaching,  seawashed  sands  lay  the 
bones  of  Kane-Pihi,  who  early  fell  a  victim  to 
the  scourge. 

Nothing  was  more  natural  than  that  he 
should  absorb  the  seeds  of  disease,  for  caution 
is  unknown  of  his  race  and  he  would  not  be 
likely  to  desert  a  comrade  in  affliction.  He 
took  the  smallpox  with  avidity  and  never  for 
a  moment,  so  I  am  credibly  informed,  thought 
of  letting  it  go  again.  Fatalism  was  the  foun 
dation  of  his  faith  and  not  all  the  Scriptures 
in  Christendom  could  rob  him  of  one  jot  or 
tittle  of  it.  He  could  enjoy  the  religious  di 
versions  at  Kaumakapili,  and  distinguish  him 
self  in  the  afterglow  of  the  periodical  revival ; 
he  could  abandon  his  birthright  of  health,  hap 
piness  and  wholesome  liberty  for  the  shams 
which  were  offered  him  in  their  stead;  he 
159 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

could  play  fast  and  loose,  false  and  true  with 
the  best  of  them,  for  this  art  is  easily  acquired 
by  the  ingenious,  and  once  acquired  is  never 
again  forgotten  or  neglected ;  but  he  could  not 
survive  the  great  change — the  change  of  heart, 
the  change  of  diet  and  of  air  and  water  and 
all  the  elements,  and  he  went  to  his  death  like 
a  bird  in  a  snare  without  so  much  as  a  hope 
of  rescue.  It  chanced  to  be  the  smallpox  that 
finished  him ;  had  it  not  been  this  doubtless  it 
would  shortly  have  been  something  else  as  un 
premeditated.  The  luau— the  feast,— was  per 
haps  not  entirely  appropriate,  it  is  true ;  it 
may  never  recur  on  that  lonely  slip  of  sand, 
and  if  it  should  the  bones  of  the  dead  will  have 
been  ground  to  powder  in  the  pitiless  mills  of 
the  sea;  yet  it  cannot  be  said  of  him  that  he 
perished  unwept,  unhonored  and  unsung,  and 
there  is  some  satisfaction  in  that.  It  was 
only  the  smallpox,  but  it  was  enough ;  I  don 't 
note  the  fact  as  being  one  of  the  evidences  of 
Christianity  as  applied  to  the  Hawaiian  race, 
though  for  the  most  part  Puritanism  touches 
them  like  a  frost.  The  epidemic  merely  pre 
cipitated  the  inevitable  climax.  One  has  only 
to  glance  at  a  comparative  table  of  the  census 
during  the  last  three  score  years,  or  to  take 
the  dimensions  of  the  numerous  and  now  al- 

160 


ON  THE  REEF 

most  vacant  Protestant  churches  scattered 
through  the  length  and  the  breadth  of  the  land 
to  draw  a  conclusion  by  no  means  flattering  to 
any  Board  of  Missions.  Having  spied  the  gen 
tlest  of  savages  out  of  the  lonely  sea  for  the 
purpose  of  teaching  them  how  to  die,  the 
American  Missionary  calmly  folds  his  hands 
over  the  grave  of  the  nation  and  turns  his  at 
tention  to  affairs  more  private  and  peculiar. 


161 


PLANTATION   DAYS 


PLANTATION  DAYS 

1_  0  sail  over  placid  seas  in  sight  of  my  sum 
mer  islands;  to  lie  off  and  on  before  the 
mouths  of  valleys  that  I  have  loved,  where,  in 
my  youth,  I  have  been  in  ecstasy;  but  never 
again  to  set  foot  on  shore,  or  to  know  whether 
it  be  reality  or  a  dream— this  is  the  dance  my 
imagination  leads  me;  this  is  the  prelude  to 
many  an  unrecorded  souvenir. 

Why  did  I  ever  leave  a  land  so  paradisiacal  1 
It  grew  too  hot  for  me  down  in  the  tropics; 
everything  I  cared  for  withered,  and  all  the 
juices  within  me  simmered  away ;  so  in  a  mo 
ment  of  temporary  sanity,  I  fled.  But  my 
heart,  the  vagabond,  returns  again  to  the  green 
pastures  of  its  youth,  which  reminds  me: 

It  was  not  yet  day  when  the  inter-island 
steamer  from  Honolulu,  bound  to  the  most 
windward  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  came  to 
anchor  at  Makena,  a  port  that  looks  very  much 
as  if  a  bite  had  been  taken  out  of  a  not  very 
appetizing  sea-coast ;  but  it  is  a  port  not  to  be 
despised  in  rough  weather,  for  here  the  wind 
is  tempered,  and  the  sea  during  the  prevalence 
of  the  strong  trade  winds  is  far  quieter  than 
at  Maalaea,  a  few  miles  over  the  stern  rail. 
165 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

Here  at  Makena,  under  a  fringe  of  the  for- 
Jornest  palms  conceivable,  I  debarked.  Being 
an  expected  guest,  I  found  a  saddle-horse 
awaiting  me  in  charge  of  an  amiable  guide, 
and  without  delay  we  began  the  ascent  of 
Haleakala,  the  gigantic  extinct  crater,  the 
largest  in  the  world,  beyond  which  the  sun  is 
hidden  for  two  hours  after  he  has  begun  his 
course.  That  is  why  the  poetical  aborigines 
have  called  the  crater,  Haleakala,— the  house 
of  the  sun,— as  if  he  rose  literally  from  it,  or 
out  of  it. 

With  a  cluck  and  a  light  touch  of  the  spur, 
we  dashed  forward.  Three  rather  dreary 
miles  stretched  between  us  and  the  haven  of 
hospitality  at  "  Rose  Ranch,"  two  thousand 
feet  above,  and  the  day  broke  gloriously  as  we 
toiled  up  the  slope  through  a  wilderness  of 
colossal  cacti.  Need  I  add,  that  the  dust  rose 
long  before  the  sun  did,  while  our  animal 
spirits  and  our  not  very  spirited  animals 
flagged  beautifully  in  concert. 

Courage!  There  was  the  restfullest  kind 
of  rest  and  the  most  refreshing  refreshment 
ahead  of  us.  The  top  end  of  the  trail  launched 
one  into  a  deliciously  cool  atmosphere,— a 
lung-bath  full  of  healing,— and  from  that 
semi-sublime  elevation  one  looked  back  upon 

166 


PLANTATION    DAYS 

the  earth  and  the  sea  in  the  superior  mood 
that  usually  succeeds  any  difficulty  well  sur 
mounted. 

Sparkling  with  the  dew  of  the  morning, 
Ulupalakua  emerged  as  if  by  enchantment 
from  a  sea  of  clouds.  Ulupalakua, — ripe 
breadfruit  for  the  gods,— was  not  thy  melliflu- 
ously  flowing,  polytheistical,  pictorial — not  to 
say  spectacular,— denomination  as  goodly  a 
morsel  upon  the  tongue  as  "Rose  Ranch?" 
Bread-fruits  were  there  in  the  olden  days, 
rare-ripe  for  the  gods,  and  no  doubt  they  were 
as  acceptable  as  the  roses  that  came  in  with 
the  Christians,  and  the  mosquitoes  and  all  the 
other  vermin  to  which  civilization  is  the  un 
disputed  heir. 

It  was  a  ripe,  bread-fruity,  and  god-like 
morning  when  I  first  beheld  Ulupalakua 
emerging  from  her  maze  of  clouds.  What 
clouds  they  were !  Sometimes  they  overshad 
owed  her  like  a  great  downy  wing ;  sometimes, 
but  not  often,  they  took  possession  of  her,  and 
her  high-hanging  garden  was  drenched  with 
fog.  But  her  air  is  always  of  the  purest,  her 
mists  of  the  whitest  description,  and  her 
bowers  breathe  a  delicate  odor,  the  fragrance 
of  which  varies  according  to  the  floral  calen 
dar  of  the  year. 

167 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

The  hearty  and  homelike  welcome  at  the 
gate  was  followed  by  a  substantial  breakfast, 
as  soon  as  I  had  been  given  time  to  shake  off 
the  dust  of  travel;  and  then  by  easy  stages 
was  I  suffered  to  drift  on  from  one  tranquil 
delight  to  another;  those  delights,  somehow, 
growing  more  and  more  tranquil,  but  none  the 
less  delightful  as  they  multiplied. 

I  write  of  Halcyonian  Hawaii,  of  the  days 
that  are  no  more,  and  have  not  been  for  a 
very  long  time.  In  my  mind's  eye  is  a  vision 
typical  of  the  period,  one  peculiar  to  the  west 
ern  slope  of  Haleakala,  even  in  those  days  of 
royal  hospitality ;  one  never  again  to  be  known 
in  that  degenerated  territory.  This  is  what 
I  see: 

The  long  table  in  the  long,  long  dining  hall, 
stretched  to  its  utmost  and  filled  with  naval 
guests.  The  host  who  through  the  somewhat 
formal  dinner  has  wielded  the  carver  with 
unruffled  composure,  albeit  a  very  magnificent 
Admiral  is  enthroned  on  his  right  hand — the 
host  is  heartily  commended  when  the  viands 
are  removed,  and  the  cloth  displayed  in  all 
its  original  purity.  It  is  the  Admiral  who 
calls  attention  to  his  host's  skill;  of  course 
the  Admiral 's  suit  echoes  the  Admiral,  and  the 
168 


PLANTATION    DAYS 

applause  which  has  become  general  heightens 
the  color  in  the  cheek  of  the  carver. 

I  believe  we  have  no  guest  on  this  occasion 
less  distinguished  than  the  companions  of  the 
wardroom,  but  the  never  to  be  forgotten  mid 
dies  have  a  brief  outing  and  a  banquet  some 
what  later  in  the  week. 

Now  the  Admiral,  being  both  on  shore  and 
on  very  good  terms  with  himself,  wishes  to 
stake  his  ship— at  anchor  in  the  harbor  of 
Makena  just  under  the  mountain— that  the 
Captain-host  at  Ulupalakua  is  qualified  to 
carve  a  peacock  at  a  Roman  feast ;  in  fact,  to 
carve  a  peacock  among  magnificent  signers — 
here  the  Admiral's  forefinger  tapped  lightly 
upon  the  Admiral's  brow— such  as  had  "their 
pheasants  drenched  with  ambergris;  and  the 
carcasses  of  three  fat  wethers  bruised  for 
gravy  to  make  sauce  for  a  single  peacock !" 

A  responsive  chorus  of  approval  from  the 
guests  at  table,  a  double  broadside  as  it  were, 
follows  this  gallant  speech,  with  its  fine,  old- 
school  quotation. 

It  is  now  the  Captain's  turn,  and  with  the 
smile  that  flatters  its  author  and  lends  him 
the  air  of  one  peer-ing  from  giddy  heights,  he 
replies  complacently  enough:— 
169 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

"Gentlemen,  the  birds  you  have  just  eaten 
—were  peacocks!" 

By  this  time,  wine  and  cigars  being  in  order, 
the  whole  company  turns  with  enthusiasm 
upon  the  host,  and  for  awhile  the  conversation 
takes  on  a  pronounced  peacock  tinge. 

"By  the  by,"  says  the  Admiral,  with  a 
drawl  and  an  eyeglass  that  silence  every 
tongue, — "I  believe  I  have  never  seen  a  pea 
cock  with  his  tail  spread,  unless  he  were  on 
a  screen,  or  upon  the  title  page  of  a  polka!" 
If  this  is  a  surprising  concession  on  the  part 
of  a  naval  dignitary,  it  is  likewise  a  reproof 
for  the  bird. 

' '  We  have  musters  of  them  here, ' '  adds  the 
Captain,  still  reveling  in  his  smile;  "pray 
satisfy  yourself  that  the  tail  is  not  a  fable." 

With  this  he  leads  the  way  to  a  long  row 
of  mmtfco-windows,  and  there  upon  the  up- 
sloping  lawn— for  mauka,  in  soft  Hawaiian, 
means  toward  the  mountain — there  a  score  of 
the  foolish  fowls  are  strutting  in  the  pomp 
of  their  splendid  plumage.  It  is  as  if  the 
Great  Mogul  had  sent  an  embassy  to  treat 
with  us;  or,  as  if  an  Arabian  night  had  sud 
denly  turned  into  day.  Huge  feathery  disks 
are  shimmering  in  the  sun,  now  near  its  set 
ting:  the  silken  rustle  of  agitated  plumage, 
170 


PLANTATION    DAYS 

the  indignant  rivalry,  the  amazing  pomposity, 
the  arrogance  and  conceit  of  the  silly  birds, 
whose  bosoms  are  aglow  with  phosphorescent 
beauty,  draw  shouts  of  admiration  and  aston 
ishment  from  the  bewildered  guests.  Is  it  a 
sunburst,  or  a  feast  of  fuss  and  feathers? 
The  clashing  of  the  imperious  rivals  begins  to 
be  alarming.  Heaven  knows  what  might  have 
happened  but  for  the  timely  appearance  of  a 
pet  dog  upon  the  scene,  when,  with  a  shriek 
of  dismay,  the  whole  muster  takes  wing,  fill 
ing  the  air  with  discordant  cries. 

As  I  recall  the  Ulupalakua  of  that  period, 
it  seems  to  me  that  everything  pertaining  to 
plantation  life  was  done  upon  an  impressive 
scale.  At  the  time  I  write  of,  the  ladies  of 
the  family,  numbering  a  half-dozen  or  more, 
were  at  the  roomy  town  house  in  Honolulu, 
or  at  the  Coast— as  California  is  familiarly 
styled.  The  Captain  had  left  the  capital  to 
escort  the  Admiral  to  Makena  and  do  the  hon 
ors  of  the  plantation,  while  the  flagship  lay 
in  port. 

Ulupalakua  hospitality  began  as  soon  as  a 
foot  was  set  on  shore.  There  were  "  cattle " 
enough  at  command  to  horse  a  company  of 
cavalry,  and  to  stay  the  stomachs  of  a  British 
regiment  with  the  traditional  roast.  The 
171 


THE   ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL    DELIGHTS 

slaughter  under  axe  and  saddle  was  bloody— 
for  Jack  Tar  is  a  merciless  rider  and  has  a 
salt  air  appetite— yet  the  flocks  and  herds 
seemed  never  to  decrease  upon  the  hills. 

The  homestead  was  open  wide  at  all  times 
and  seasons.  It  was  a  one-storied,  rambling 
mother-house,  with  many  wings  and  angles; 
about  it  were  clustered  numerous  cottages  of 
various  dimensions— such  cozy  cottages  as 
bachelors  delight  in— each  quite  independent 
of  the  others,  and  having  a  leafy  screen  and 
an  atmosphere  of  its  own.  At  night  every 
chamber  of  every  house  was  lighted,  so  that 
the  bounteous  garden  in  the  midst  of  the  set 
tlement  was  suffused  with  the  glow  of  good 
cheer. 

On  the  plateau  above  the  garden  was  the 
billiard-hall,  and  some  little  distance  beyond 
it,— though  not  so  far  away  but  in  the  still 
afternoon  a  muffled  peal  on  peal  was  faintly 
audible  even  in  the  select  silence  of  the  pri 
vate  chapel— stretched  the  long  bowling  alley. 
Between  billiards  and  bowls  lay  the  elysian 
fields,  a  tennis  court  of  velvety  perfection. 

Probably  business  preceded  pleasure,  even 

at  Ulupalakua,  but  it  took  precedence  with 

such  modest  grace  that  the  latter  seemed  the 

more  honored.    Everywhere  one  saw  evidences 

172 


PLANTATION   DAYS 

of  practical  activity,  for  method  was  the  Cap 
tain's  mania;  but  over  all,  especially  in  guest- 
time,  pleasure  played  like  a  smile.  Cart 
wheels  groaned  to  the  music  of  ballad  singing 
drivers;  and  the  steam  whistle  down  at  the 
sugar  mill  was  hardly  more  pronounced  than 
the  matutinal  crash  of  ten-pins. 

I  can  see  them  now,  the  blue  jackets  off 
duty,  improving  the  shining  hours  with  an 
earnestness  that  might  put  a  bee  to  the  blush ; 
for  between  the  side-board  and  the  siesta,  time 
flew  with  the  speed  of  a  six-winged  seraph  and 
shed  no  feather  in  his  flight. 

The  ladies  were  indeed  absent  on  the 
auspicious  occasion  above  referred  to,  and  it 
were  folly  to  say  that  they  were  not  regretted ; 
but  in  this  picturesque  period  a  household  like 
the  one  under  consideration  seemed  almost  to 
take  care  of  itself.  Ulupalakua  was  originally 
the  best  exemplification  of  the  patriarchal 
system  in  the  whole  kingdom ;  a  system  that 
came  in  with  the  American  Missionaries,  and 
has  now  become  one  of  the  fond  traditions  of 
Island  life.  From  the  veriest  child  that  was 
destined  to  grow  up  and  probably  end  his  days 
on  the  plantation,  to  the  old  fellow  who  passed 
his  declining  years  upon  the  lawn,  with  a  low 
camp-stool  and  a  pair  of  scissors,  clipping  the 
173 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

grass  blades  as  they  grew  from  day  to  day,  and 
his  antiquated  wife  whose  sole  duty  was  to 
shoo  the  peacocks  at  intervals,  the  various 
members  of  the  community  looked  upon  the 
Captain 's  word  as  absolute.  The  innumerable 
plantation  hands  were  like  members  of  one 
family;  you  could  have  ordered  almost  any 
one  within  sight  to  do  your  bidding,  and  it 
was  done  as  a  matter  of  course. 

The  fourth  of  July  was  the  great  holiday  of 
the  year,  for  the  spirit  of  liberty  is  catching. 
As  the  Captain  was  a  staunch  American,  the 
stars  and  stripes  floated  from  the  flag-staffs 
before  the  homestead  and  the  plantation  office, 
and  from  the  peak  of  a  private  packet  that 
plied  between  the  ports  of  Makena  and  Hono 
lulu.  She  was  a  trim  schooner  yacht  that 
was  in  no  wise  afraid  to  try  her  speed  with 
the  old  inter-island  steamer,  the  Kilauea  in 
any  sort  of  weather,  save  only  a  dead  calm. 
But  let  me  not  cast  a  reproach  upon  the 
memory  of  the  Kilauea;  she  is  said  to  have 
whetted  her  keel  upon  every  reef  in  those 
treacherous  waters;  and  when,  after  long 
years  of  faithful  service,  she  was  condemned, 
it  required  the  aid  of  powder  to  dismember 
her ;  yet  if  the  prayers  of  the  wicked— the  un 
comfortable  passengers— could  avail  aught, 
174 


PLANTATION    DAYS 

she  would  probably  have  gone  to  the  bottom 
at  a  much  earlier  period  in  her  career. 

O  happy  past!  What  a  blessing  it  is  that 
pleasant  memories  are  immortal ! 

When  the  young  ladies  were  at  the  home 
stead,  and  the  guest  chambers  unoccupied— it 
sometimes  so  happened  even  at  Ulupalakua— 
there  came  a  cry  from  the  garden,  a  pitiful 
and  despairing  cry— "Oh,  sister,  do  you  see  a 
dust?"  Then  the  sister,  two  or  three  of  her, 
probably,  responded  from  the  housetop  "  No ! " 
Or  perhaps  the  marine  glass  was  turned  upon 
the  far  distant  horizon  seeking  for  a  sail— 
' '  No  sail  from  day  to  day. ' '  Only  once  a  week 
was  there  hope  of  the  mail  gladdening  us; 
news  from  the  outer  world  in  that  dim  age 
came  at  such  uncertain  intervals,  that  all  busi 
ness  was  suspended  when  it  did  arrive,  until 
the  thrice  welcome  letters  were  read  and  re 
read  and  reluctantly  laid  away  for  innumer 
able  re-re-readings. 

When  the  sisters  came  down  from  the  house 
top,  having  abandoned  the  seas  in  despair,  the 
piano  was  played  more  wildly;  the  balls  shot 
madly  from  their  spheres  in  the  billiard  hall ; 
the  tennis  court  grew  positively  perilous ; 
sometimes,  in  desperation, the  ennuyees  dashed 
over  the  hills  at  break-neck  speed  on  the  backs 
175 


THE  ISLAND  OF   TRANQUIL  DELIGHTS 

of  saddleless  broncos  that  were  but  half 
broken,  from  start  to  finish. 

Yet  the  Navy  was  not  so  shy  of  us  in  those 
days:  there  was  nearly  always  a  glimmer  of 
brass  buttons  in  the  tableaux  of  social  life. 
Ah,  me !  Many  a  youthful  mariner,  beautiful 
in  broadcloth,  gorgeous  in  gold  lace,  and  sur 
charged  with  those  graceful  accomplishments 
that  are  forever  associated  with  the  aspiring 
off-shoots  of  Annapolis,  found  his  way  as  if 
by  instinct  into  the  rose-garden  of  Ulupala- 
kua;  the  shadows  of  the  kamani  avenue  were 
known  to  him,  and  in  the  kukui  grove,  under 
the  lee  of  Puumahoe,  he  has  left  his  heart 
firmly  imbedded  in  the  impressionable  bark  of 
some  love-nourishing  tree.  If  he  has  not,  it  is 
because  he  was  not  up  to  the  high-water  mark 
of  the  Navy. 

When  the  social  resources  of  the  place  were 
exhausted,  and  not  till  then,  was  the  Admiral 
of  the  peacock  episode  permitted  to  honor 
ably  withdraw  from  the  siege  of  Ulupalakua. 
Meanwhile  Jack-tar  had  been  relishing  his  bar- 
bacued  beef  down  at  Makena-by-the-sea,  and 
had  not  had  half  a  bad  time,  though  the  port 
is  undoubtedly  a  dull  one  between  meals. 

The  sun  had  set  nightly  with  great  eclat— & 
sunset  was  one  of  the  features  of  our  enter- 

176 


PLANTATION   DAYS 

tainment.  The  magnolias  had  filled  their  ala-; 
baster  bowls  with  moonlight  of  the  first  qual 
ity—moonlight  that  ran  over  and  flooded  the 
whole  island.  Hawaiian  singers  had  sung 
themselves  hoarse  under  the  verandas  o' 
nights.  The  clouds  had  come  down— they  had 
not  far  to  come— and  put  a  damper  on  the 
season  of  festivity.  It  was  evidently  about 
time  for  the  Admiral  to  steam  back  to  the  capi 
tal  if  he  would  escape  a  threatening  gale  and 
that  he  did  one  morning,  taking  his  host  along 
with  him  as  a  souvenir  of  his  very  jolly  ex 
perience. 

Then  followed  a  season  of  reaction  and  con 
valescence,  during  which  I  was  quite  alone 
in  my  glory  the  greater  part  of  the  day.  Tran 
sient  guests,  making  the  tour  of  the  island, 
dropped  in  upon  us  and  dropped  out  again 
without  causing  so  much  as  a  ripple  on  the 
peaceful  surface  of  life's  stream.  The  latch- 
string  hung  within  the  reach  of  every  one,  and 
I  regret  to  add,  even  in  the  halcyonian  age 
this  gracious  hospitality  was  sometimes  abused. 

As  for  myself,  a  favored  guest  at  all  times, 
I  had  books  without  number— many  of  them 
choice  ones,  such  as  one  even  nowadays  may 
occasionally  stumble  upon  among  the  private 
libraries  scattered  throughout  the  kingdom. 
177 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL    DELIGHTS 

Then  there  was  the  piano  in  the  parlor,  a 
choice  one;  another  in  the  school-room,  where 
one  could  indulge  his  taste  for  melodious  calis 
thenics;  an  organ  in  the  chapel,  and  a  collec 
tion  of  portable  instruments  scattered  about 
the  place.  There  were  romantic  trails  to  be 
tracked  only  in  the  saddle— on  saddle  horses 
and  in  saddles  of  every  possible  description. 
There  was  pigeon-shooting  in  the  cavern,  half 
way  down  the  mountain  slope— but  the  birds 
were  much  too  tame  for  sport,  and  we  seldom 
fluttered  them. 

A  cattle  drive  was  one  of  the  more  exciting 
pastimes,  and  in  this  all  joined  with  enthu 
siasm—even  the  ladies  sometimes  amazoned 
our  party.  If  you  desire,  Oh  reader !  to  witch 
the  world  with  noble  horsemanship,  let  me  see 
how  you  manage  a  mustang  during  a  stampede 
in  those  vast  orchards  of  prickly-pear,  and  I 
will  answer  for  your  chances  in  the  game  of 
witchery. 

Wild  cattle  stand  not  upon  the  order  of 
their  going,  and  they  are  as  nimble  though 
not  as  light-footed  as  goats  when  they  once 
get  started  for  the  jungle  where  they  vanish 
in  a  cloud  of  dust.  Though  the  cactus  is  like 
a  rack  full  of  reversed  pin-cushions—never 
was  there  a  more  formidable  chevaux  de  frise 
178 


PLANTATION    DAYS 

—yet  the  cattle  plunge  among  them  with  fear 
less  abandon  and  even  munch  barbed  thorns 
with  amazing  relish. 

Ah,  me!  but  my  season  of  solitude  was  » 
rare  delight,  and  the  frequent  divertissement  a 
never-failing  source  of  refreshment.  From 
books,  moused  out  of  a  deep,  dark  closet, 
where  they  had  been  stored  and  long  since 
forgotten,— old  books,  with  freckled  pages 
and  a  faint  musty  odor  that  I  found  positively 
intoxicating,— to  the  bowling  alley,  was  the 
giddy  flight  I  took  when  so  disposed. 

It  was  a  unique  game  of  ten-pins  I  was  wont 
to  play  in  those  days.  Small  natives  swarmed 
like  bees  whenever  I  went  abroad;  and  you 
see  I  was  the  one  haoli — or  foreigner — who  had 
unlimited  leisure,  and  they  knew  not  at  what 
moment  it  might  suit  my  fancy  to  embark 
upon  some  erratic  expedition  such  as  they  de 
lighted  in.  At  a  moment's  notice  I  could  com 
mand  a  troop  of  horse  worthy  of  an  outlaw 
chief.  If  I  retired  to  the  billiard  hall  to 
amuse  myself  with  the  light  and  airy  cue,  the 
windows  and  doors  commanding  the  four  sides 
of  the  table  were  certain  to  be  darkened  with 
a  cloud  of  witnesses— but  I  am  forgetting  the 
ten-pins. 

There  was  a  small  kanaka  for  every  pin,  and 
179 


THE  ISLAND  OP   TRANQUIL  DELIGHTS 

one  for  each  ball;  these  in  some  mysterious 
way  hung  upon  the  wall  at  the  far  and  fatal 
end  of  the  bowling  alley,  at  the  imminent  peril 
of  life  and  limb.  Whenever  I  made  a  ten 
strike,  which  I  swear  I  did  occasionally,  it  was 
invariably  received  with  a  deafening  round  of 
cheers— not  omitting  the  ''tiger":  but  still 
I  was  not  happy,  for  I  always  feared  to  find 
the  alley,  after  the  atmosphere  had  cleared  a 
little,  strewn  with  Hawaiian  slain. 

Many  and  various  changes  have  taken  place 
since  my  first  visit  to  Ulupalakua.  Then  the 
summer  breezes  sighed  in  the  white  plumed 
cane  fields  as  the  busy  ox  carts  were  laboring 
up  and  down  the  winding  road  from  dawn  to 
dusk.  There  was  a  whole  village — full  of 
plantation  hands— a  kind  of  happy-family- 
village,  peopled  with  mixed  races  whose  na 
tionalities  ranged  from  Japan  almost  to  the 
Antarctic,  and  lapped  clean  round  the  world. 

Cane-planting  was  the  Captain's  business, 
but  tree  planting  was  his  pleasure.  I  know 
not  how  many  thousand  saplings  were  rooted 
under  his  very  eyes — many  of  them  he  set  out 
with  his  own  hands.  There  were  acres  and 
acres  of  choice  cuttings ;  they  crowned  the  hill 
tops  and  filled  the  beds  of  valleys  not  other 
wise  engaged.  He  watched  their  growth  with 
180 


PLANTATION    DAYS 

ceaseless  and  loving  care.  We  used  to  ride 
among  the  shrubs  when  they  were  scarcely  up 
to  our  stirrups,  and  he  would  talk  of  his  plans 
for  the  future ;  not  those  plans  that  had  to  do 
with  the  sugar  market,  or  were  in  any  way 
material  or  sordid,  but  only  such  as  fed  his 
fancy  and  aided  him  to  picture  the  magnificent 
estate  that  was  his  delightful  hobby  as  it  would 
appear  in  after  years. 

In  his  mind's  eye  he  saw  a  tropical  garden 
in  the  midst  of  Alpine  groves,  upon  a  plateau 
possessing  singular  climatic  advantages,  and 
commanding  breadths  of  earth,  sea,  and  sky— 
a  panorama  of  marvelous  variety  and  beauty. 
Comparative  isolation  was  in  this  instance  a 
blessing.  Had  it  been  advisable,  the  Captain 
could  at  any  moment  block  his  highways  with 
sharp-shooters,  read  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  and  look  down  serenely  upon  the 
little  kingdom  that  swam  and  sweltered  below 
him.  His  people  were  loyal  to  a  man  and  this 
spirit  of  loyalty  was  easily  warmed  to  enthu 
siasm  ;  sentiment  is  one  of  the  prominent  char 
acteristics  of  the  Hawaiian  race  and  there  is 
something  in  the  soft  atmosphere  of  these 
favored  islands,— the  melting  humidity,  the 
permeating  fragrance,  the  sensuous  warmth, 
and  the  surprising  beauty  bursting  at  inter- 
181 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

vals  upon  the  enraptured  vision,  that  nour 
ishes  the  voluptuous  element  in  our  nature, 
and  encourages  an  easy  inclination  to  senti 
mentality. 

There  were  natives  in  the  Captain's  employ 
whose  parents  were  born  on  the  premises,  and 
whose  children  are  likely  to  pass  their  lives 
there.  Though  the  Hawaiian  has  acquired  a 
taste  for  travel,  he  is  passionately  attached  to 
his  native  heath,  and  formerly  he  was  easily 
content  to  dwell  at  home  and  let  the  world  go 
by.  At  Ulupalakua  there  was  a  venerable 
coolie— the  tyrant  of  the  kitchen,  but  fondly 
indulgent  when  the  little  ones  appeared— who 
had  served  the  Captain's  family  faithfully  for 
thirty  years ;  when  his  master  died  he  re 
doubled  his  devotion  to  his  mistress ;  but  when 
her  body  also  was  borne  to  the  family  mau 
soleum  on  the  hill  overhanging  the  sea,  he 
threw  himself  upon  his  cot  and  never  again 
left  it  alive. 

These  are  traditions  of  the  past;  one  does 
but  dream  of  them  nowadays.  The  modern 
servant  is  a  hireling,  a  mercenary  fellow  with 
an  eye  single  to  his  sole  advantage.  Moreover 
the  entertainer's  wits  are  sharpened,  his  heart 
is  hardened,  and  doubtless  for  good  and  suffi 
cient  reasons.  Often  he  was  imposed  upon 
182 


PLANTATION    DAYS 

in  the  old  days  when  the  veriest  stranger  was 
welcomed  with  a  cordiality  worthy  of  an  an 
gelic  guest.  Now  there  are  public  lodgings 
to  be  obtained  for  hire  on  most  of  the  thor 
oughfares,  and  calculating  Caucasians  ready 
to  serve  one  with  the  best  the  provincial 
market  affords,  at  a  price  just  within  the 
bounds  of  reason. 

Rose  Ranch  has  ever  been  a  paradise  in  the 
imaginations  of  those  who  were  beginning  to 
succumb  under  the  monotonous,  high  tempera 
ture  of  the  lowlands.  They  dream  of  nights 
in  which  woolen  blankets,  and  several  of  them, 
are  indispensable  to  comfort ;  and  of  evenings 
when,  at  some  seasons  of  the  year,  a  blazing 
hearth  is  the  chief  attraction  of  the  place; 
they  think  of  days  that  dawn  in  another  zone, 
as  it  were,  where  temperate  fruits  are  ruddy 
ing  and  ripening ;  yet  from  under  the  shadow 
of  those  olive  boughs  the  eye  of  contemplation 
kindles  at  the  vision  of  glowing  sands,  by  glit 
tering,  silver  sea,  where  palm  groves  nod  and 
quiver  in  the  heat— and  then  they  weep  with 
longing. 

The  startling  notes  of  unfamiliar  birds  are 
heard  there  at  intervals,  for  the  forests  are 
haunted  by  the  shy  progeny  of  the  imported 
songsters  who  are  for  the  most  part  too  home- 

183 


THE   ISLAND    OP    TRANQUIL    DELIGHTS 

sick  to  sing.  Once  in  a  while  a  paroquet  flut 
ters  in  the  edge  of  the  garden,  but  the  green 
solitudes  farther  up  the  heights  afford  superior 
attractions.  Even  the  mynah,  that  feathered 
bohemian  of  the  far  East,  finds  the  groves  of 
Honolulu  a  fitter  field  for  his  gipsyism,  and 
IJlupalakua  resounds  to  the  trumpet  blast  of 
the  peacock;  but  for  these  highly  decorative 
birds,  that  troop  in  hundreds  over  the  abund 
ant  acres,  the  quiet  of  the  Rose  Ranch  of  to 
day  would  take  on  a  somber  tinge;  for  the 
sound  of  the  grinding  is  low,  and  the  herds 
that  abound  there,  if  they  have  not  a  thousand 
hills  to  feed  upon,  have  yet  ample  room  in 
which  to  wander  and  browse,  and  they  are  for 
the  most  part  out  of  sight  and  sound. 

The  bowling  alley  long  since  was  blown 
down  in  a  gale,  and  its  forgotten  debris  lies 
buried  under  moss  and  creepers,  awaiting  the 
enterprising  pick  of  some  future  archaeologist. 
Tennis  survives,  and  is  likely  to  be  perpetu 
ated;  a  game  in  which  feminine  grace  and 
masculine  agility  are  striving  for  victory, 
while  the  looker-on  has  only  to  approve  with 
equal  fervor  and  discrimination,  is  sure  of 
honorable  mention  while  youth  and  beauty  dis 
port  upon  the  lawn. 

Prospect  Hill,  which  was  a  nursery  when 
184 


PLANTATION    DAYS 

the  Captain  and  I  used  to  climb  it,  is  now  a 
wood  worthy  to  be  called  umbrageous;  while 
the  row  of  solemn  cypresses,  the  funereal  urns 
and  the  sad  paths  that  surround  the  mauso 
leum,  forcibly  remind  one  of  the  terraces  in  a 
Florentine  villa. 

Yet  this  is  not  a  melancholy  spot,  even  for 
those  who  remember  the  gayeties  of  the  past ; 
and  if  I  dwell  more  upon  the  soft  cadence  of 
the  evening  breeze,  the  caress  of  drooping 
boughs,  and  the  silent  showers  of  rose  petals 
in  the  unvisited  arbor,  than  upon  the  jollity 
of  the  season,  it  is  because  these  are  character 
istic  of  Ulupalakua  in  repose,  a  repose  sin 
gularly  grateful  to  a  disquieted  soul.  And 
these  charms  will  lead  one  ever  to  think  of  the 
place  and  to  speak  of  it  very  much  in  the  spirit 
of  Peter  Martyr,  who  thus  wrote  long  ago  of 
the  queen's  garden  in  the  Antilles:— " Never 
was  any  noisome  animal  found  there,  nor  yet 
any  ravaging  four-footed  beast,  nor  lion,  nor 
bear,  nor  fierce  tigers,  nor  crafty  foxes,  nor 
devouring  wolves,  but  all  things  blessed  and 
fortunate. "  . 


185 


THE  DRAMA  IN  DREAMLAND 


THE  DRAMA  IN  DREAMLAND 

J_T  is  from  the  seaward  window  of  the  United 
States  Legation  in  Honolulu  that  I  have  of 
late  cast  a  pathetic  eye.  The  "tear  of  sym 
pathy"  may  not  flow  as  freely  in  recent  litera 
ture  as  was  its  custom  in  the  age  of  more 
reverent  readers  and  writers;  but  there  is 
something  in  the  forlorn  beauty  of  the  wilder 
ness  over  against  the  Legation  that  conjures 
the  obsolete  globule  above  referred  to,  and  I 
shed  it  fearlessly  and  not  without  reason. 

Upon  the  diagonal  corner  of  the  street 
stands  the  new  hall  of  the  Young  Men 's  Chris 
tian  Association,  smelling  of  bricks  and  mor 
tar  ;  over  the  way  is  a  tenement  where  plain 
board  and  lodging  entice  the  stranger  under 
a  disguise  of  fresh  paint;— these  are  both  in 
novations  necessary,  no  doubt,  to  the  require 
ments  of  a  progressive  age;  but  the  occasion 
of  my  present  solicitude  is  a  vacant  corner 
lot,  trimly  fenced,  wherein  two  rows  of  once 
stately  palms  now  struggle  with  decay  and  the 
parasites  that  fatten  on  them. 

It  is  a  weird  garden,  where  Flora  and  Thes- 
pis  once  held  friendly  rivalry.  What  a  jumble 
of  botanical  debris  and  histrionic  rubbish  now 
189 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

litters  the  arena  flanked  by  forlorn  palms! 
Out  of  it  all  I  doubt  if  the  sentimental  scav 
enger  would  be  able  to  pick  any  relic  more 
substantial  than  the  airy  dagger  of  Macbeth; 
but  upon  points  so  slight  as  this  hang  imper 
ishable  memories ;  hence  follow  these  remi 
niscences  of  the  late  Royal  Hawaiian  Theater. 

Well  nigh  two  score  of  years  ago  I  was 
lounging  at  Whitney 's  bookstore  in  Honolulu ; 
it  was  at  that  time  a  kind  of  Hawaiian  Forum, 
with  a  postoffice  on  one  side  of  the  room  and 
a  semaphore  on  the  roof.  It  was  dull  work  in 
those  days,  waiting  for  the  gaunt  arms  of  the 
semiphore  to  swing  about,  uttering  its  cabalist- 
ical  prophecies.  No  steamers  then  to  stain  the 
brilliant  sky  with  trailing  smoke;  the  mail- 
days  depended  entirely  upon  the  state  of  the 
wind  and  the  tide. 

I  was  weary  of  fumbling  the  shop-worn 
books,  of  listening  or  trying  not  to  listen  to 
the  roar  of  the  rollers  on  the  reef;  woefully 
weary  of  the  tepid  monotony  that  offered  not 
even  an  excuse  for  irritation. 

Upon  this  mood  entered  a  slender  but  well- 
proportioned  gentleman,  clad  in  white  duck 
raiment,  spotless  and  well  starched ;  there  was 
something  about  him  which  would  have  caused 
the  casual  observer  to  give  him  a  second  glance 
190 


THE  DRAMA  IN  DREAMLAND 

— a  mannerism  and  an  air  that  distinguished 
him.  A  professional,  probably,  thought  I ;  an 
eccentric,  undoubtedly.  I  was  not  surprised 
when,  upon  the  entrance  of  a  common  friend 
a  few  moments  later,  I  was  made  acquainted 
with  Mr.  Proteus,  proprietor  and  manager  of 
the  Royal  Hawaiian  Theater ;  likewise  govern 
ment  botanist  and  professor  of  many  branches 
of  art  both  sacred  and  profane.  Mr.  Proteus 
bowed  somewhat  in  the  manner  of  a  French 
dancing-master,  and  shuddered  slightly  upon 
being  shaken  by  the  hand;  at  a  later  date  he 
requested  me  never  to  repeat  a  f  drmality  which 
he  could  not  but  consider  quite  unnecessary 
in  general  and  in  particular  cases  highly  ob 
jectionable. 

After  having  cautiously  exchanged  a  few 
languid  commonplaces,  Mr.  Proteus  invited  me 
to  visit  his  Temple  of  the  Muses.  Nothing 
could  have  pleased  me  better.  I  regarded  him 
as  a  godsend,  and  we  at  once  repaired  to  the 
theater,  threading  the  blazing  streets  together 
under  a  huge  green-lined  umbrella  of  dazzling 
whiteness,  held  jauntily  by  my  new-found 
friend. 

I  like  theaters;  I  dote  on  dingy  tinsel  and 
stucco  which  in  a  flash  of  light  is  transformed 
into  brilliant  beauty;  and  the  odor,  the  un- 
191 


THE   ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

mistakable  odor,  of  stale  foot-lights  and  thick 
coats  of  distemper;  the  suggestive  confusion 
of  flats  and  wings  and  flies;  the  picturesque 
bric-a-brac  of  the  property-room;  the  trap 
doors,  the  slides,  the  grooves,  the  stuffy  dress 
ing-rooms,  and  the  stray  play-bills  pasted  here 
and  there  in  memory  of  gala  nights  in  the  past. 
Of  all  the  theaters  that  I  have  known,  this  was 
the  most  theatrical,  because  the  most  unreal; 
it  was  like  a  make-believe  theater,  wherein 
everything  was  done  for  the  fun  of  it ;  a  kind 
of  child's  toy  theater  grown  up,  and  full  of 
grown-up  players,  who,  by  an  enchantment 
which  was  the  sole  right  of  this  house,  became 
like  children  the  moment  they  set  foot  upon 
that  stage ;  and  there,  people  and  players  were 
as  happy  and  careless  as  children  should  be  so 
long  as  one  stone  of  that  play-house  stood  upon 
another. 

We  turned  into  Alakea  Street  a  pastoral 
lane  in  those  days ;  the  grass  was  parted  down 
the  middle  of  it  by  a  trail  of  dust;  strange 
trees  waved  blossoming  branches  over  us.  I 
looked  up :  in  the  midst  of  a  beautiful  garden 
stood  a  quaint,  old-fashioned  building;  but 
for  its  surroundings  I  might  easily  have  mis 
taken  it  for  a  primitive,  puritanical,  New  Eng 
land  village  meeting-house;  long  windows,  of 
192 


THE  DRAMA  IN  DREAMLAND 

the  kind  that  slide  down  into  a  third  of  their 
natural  height,  were  opened  to  the  breeze; 
great  dragon-flies  sailed  in  and  out  at  leisure. 

The  theater  fronted  upon  a  street  more 
traveled  and  more  pretentious  than  the  one 
we  entered,  and  from  that  street  a  flight  of 
steps  led  to  a  door  which  might  have  opened 
into  the  choir-loft  if  this  had  really  been  a 
meeting-house;  but  as  it  was  nothing  of  the 
sort,  the  door  at  the  top  of  the  stairs  admitted 
you  without  a  moment's  notice  to  the  dress 
circle;  bees  and  butterflies  lounged  about  it; 
every  winged  thing  had  the  entree  of  this  de 
lightful  establishment. 

With  Proteus  I  approached  the  stage  door; 
tufts  of  long  grass  trailed  over  the  three  broad 
wooden  steps  that  led  to  the  mysterious  por 
tal;  luxuriant  creepers  festooned  the  case 
ment;  small  lizards,  shining  with  metallic 
luster,  slid  into  convenient  crevices  as  we  drew 
near.  A  faint  delicious  fragrance  was  wafted 
from  the  garden,  where  a  native  lad  with 
spouting  hose  in  hand  was  showering  a  broad- 
leafed  plant,  upon  which  the  falling  water 
boomed  like  a  drum;  it  was  the  only  sound 
that  broke  the  soothing  silence. 

Proteus  produced  a  key,  and  with  a  flourish 
applied  it  to  the  lock ;  the  door  swung  in  upon 
193 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

the  stage— no  dingy  and  irregular  passage  in 
tervened—the  cozy  stage  flooded  with  sun 
shine,  from  which  the  mimic  scenes  had  been 
swept  back  against  the  wall,  and  the  space 
filled  to  the  proscenium  with  trapeze,  rings, 
bars,  and  spring-boards ;  in  brief,  the  theater 
had  been  transformed  into  a  gymnasium  be 
tween  two  dramatic  seasons. 

The  body  of  the  house  was  in  its  normal 
condition— the  pit  filled  with  rude  benches;  a 
piano  stood  under  the  foot-lights—it  usually 
comprised  the  orchestra ;  thin  partitions,  about 
shoulder  high,  separated  the  two  ends  of  the 
dress-circle,  and  the  spaces  were  known  as 
boxes.  A  half-dozen  real  kings  and  queens 
had  witnessed  the  lives  and  deaths  of  player- 
kings  and  queens  from  these  queer  little 
cubby-holes. 

Folding  doors  thrown  wide  open  in  the  rear 
of  the  stage  admitted  us  to  the  green-room— a 
pretty  parlor  well  furnished  with  bachelor 
comforts.  The  large  center-table  was  covered 
with  a  rich  Turkish  tapestry;  on  it  stood  an 
antique  astral  lamp  with  a  depressed  globe  and 
a  tall,  slender  stem ;  handsome  mirrors,  resting 
upon  carved  and  gilded  consoles,  extended  to 
the  ceiling;  statuettes  and  vases  were  placed 
before  them ;  lounges,  Chinese  reclining-chairs 
194 


THE  DRAMA  IN  DREAMLAND 

and  ottomans  encumbered  the  floor ;  a  valuable 
oil-painting,  which  had  a  look  of  age,  hung 
over  the  piano ;  on  the  latter  stood  two  deep, 
bell-shaped  globes  of  glass  that  protected  wax 
tapers  from  the  tropical  drafts ;  a  double  win 
dow,  which  was  ever  open  to  the  trade-wind 
was  thickly  screened  by  vines.  On  one  side 
of  this  exceptional  green-room — it  was  in 
reality  the  boudoir  of  the  erratic  Proteus — was 
a  curtained  arch,  and  within  it  the  sleeping 
apartment  of  him  who  had  for  years  made  the 
theater  his  home.  On  the  other  side  of  the 
room  was  a  bath  supplied  with  a  flowing 
stream  of  fresh,  cool  mountain  water;  these 
compartments  were  in  their  turn  the  dressing 
rooms  of  leading  man  and  lady.  Beneath  the 
stage  were  all  the  kitchen  wares  that  heart  or 
stomach  could  desire.  And  thus  was  the  drama 
nourished  in  Dreamland  before  the  antipodes 
had  lost  their  savour. 

Proteus  was  an  extremist  in  all  things,  capa 
ble  of  likes  and  dislikes  as  violent  as  they 
were  sudden  and  unaccountable;  we  became 
fast  friends  at  once,  and  it  was  my  custom  to 
lounge  under  the  window  in  the  green-room 
hour  after  hour,  while  he  talked  of  the  vicissi 
tudes  in  his  extraordinary  career,  or  related 
episodes  in  the  dramatic  history  of  his  house 
195 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

—a  history  which  dated  back  to  1848;  some 
of  these  were  romantic,  some  humorous  or 
grotesque,  but  all  were  alike  of  interest  to  me. 

Honolulu  has  long  been  visited  by  musical 
and  dramatic  celebrities,  for  they  are  of  a 
nomadic  tribe.  ,As  early  as  1850,  Steve  Mas- 
sett—  "Jeems  Pipes  of  Pipesville"— was  con- 
certizing  here,  and  again  in  1878.  In  1855 
Kate  Hayes  gave  concerts  at  three  dollars  per 
ticket ;  Lola  Montez  and  Madame  Ristori  have 
visited  this  capital,  but  not  professionally. 
In  1852  Edwin  Booth  played  in  that  very 
theater,  and  for  a  time  lived  in  it,  after  the 
manner  of  Proteus;  among  those  who  have 
followed  him  are  Charles  Mathews,  Herr 
Bandmann,  Walter  Montgomery,  Madame 
Marie  Duret,  Signer  and  Signora  Bianchi, 
Signer  Orlandini,  Madame  Agatha  States, 
Madame  Eliza  Biscaccianti,  Madame  Joseph 
ine  d'Ormy,  J.  C.  Williamson  and  Maggie 
Moore,  Professor  Anderson,  "The  Wizard  of 
the  North, ' ;  Madame  Anna  Bishop  in  1857  and 
1868,  lima  di  Murska,  the  Carrandinis,  the 
Zavistowskis,  Charlie  Backus,  Joe  Murphy, 
Billy  Emerson,  etc.  As  for  panoramas,  magi 
cians,  glass-blowers,  and  the  like,  their  num 
ber  and  variety  are  confounding. 

The  experiences  of  these  clever  people  while 
196 


THE  DRAMA  IN  DREAMLAND 

here  must  have  been  a  delight  to  most  of 
them;  though  the  professional  who  touches 
for  a  few  hours  or  a  few  days  only  at  this 
tropical  oasis  in  the  sea-desert  on  his  way  to 
or  from  Australia  will  hardly  realize  the  senti 
mental  sadness  of  those  who  have  gone  down 
into  the  Pacific  to  astonish  the  natives,  and 
have  found  it  no  easy  task  to  get  over  the 
reef  again  at  the  close  of  a  disastrous  season. 
The  hospitality  of  the  hospitable  people  is  not 
always  equal  to  such  an  emergency ;  but  there 
are  those  who  have  returned  again  to  Dream 
land,  and  who  have  longed  for  it  ever  since 
they  first  discovered  that  play-acting  is  not  all 
work— in  one  theater,  at  least. 

That  marvelously  young  old  man,  the  late 
Charles  Mathews,  who  certainly  had  a  right 
to  be  world-weary  if  any  one  has,  out  of  the 
fullness  of  his  heart  wrote  the  following  on 
his  famous  tour  of  the  world  in  1873-74 : 

"At  Honolulu,  one  of  the  loveliest  little 
spots  upon  earth"— he  was  fresh  from  the 
gorgeous  East  when  he  wrote  that— from  the 
Indies,  luminous  in  honor  of  the  visit  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales— "I  acted  one  night  by  com 
mand  and  in  the  presence  of  His  Majesty 
Kamehameha  V.,  King  of  the  Sandwich 
Islands— not  Hoky  Poky  Wanky  Fum,  as  er- 
197 


THE   ISLAND   OP    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

roneously  reported ;  and  a  memorable  night  it 
was. 

"I  found  the  theater— to  use  a  technical  ex 
pression—crammed  to  suffocation,  which 
means  very  full;  though,  from  the  state  of 
the  thermometer  on  this  occasion,  suffocation 
wasn't  so  incorrect  a  description  as  usual. 

"A  really  elegant-looking  audience;  tickets 
ten  shillings  each,  evening  dresses,  uniforms 
of  every  cut  and  country ;  chief  esses  and  ladies 
of  every  tinge  in  dresses  of  every  color; 
flowers  and  jewels  in  profusion,  satin  play 
bills,  fans  going,  windows  and  doors  all  open, 
an  outside  staircase  leading  straight  into  the 
dress-circle,  without  check-taker  or  money- 
taker. 

* '  Kanaka  women  in  the  garden  below  selling 
bananas  and  peanuts  by  the  glare  of  flaming 
torches  on  a  sultry,  tropical  moonlight  night. 

"The  whole  thing  was  like  nothing  but  a 
midsummer  night's  dream. 

"And  was  it  nothing  to  see  a  whole  pit  full 
of  Kanakas,  black,  brown,  and  whity-brown, 
till  lately  cannibals,  showing  their  teeth,  and 
enjoying  'Patter  versus  Clatter'  as  much  as  a 
few  years  ago  they  would  have  enjoyed  the 
roasting  of  a  missionary  or  the  baking  of  a 
baby? 

198 


THE  DRAMA  IN  DREAMLAND 


It  was  certainly  a  page  in  one 's  life  never 
to  be  forgotten." 

Let  me  add  that  Mr.  Mathews  is  more  amus 
ing  than  authentic ;  cannibalism  is  unknown  in 
the  annals  of  the  Hawaiian  kingdom ;  if  there 
has  been  any  human  roasting  done  in  this  do 
main,  it  has  been  done  since  the  arrival  of  the 
American  missionaries. 

That  little  play-house  was  in  its  day 
thronged  by  audiences  attracted  by  very  dis 
similar  entertainments;  anything  from  five 
acts  and  a  prologue  of  melo-drama  to  a  troupe 
of  trained  poodles  was  sure  to  transform  the 
grassy  lane  into  a  bazaar  of  fruit-sellers,  and 
the  box-office  under  the  stairs  into  a  bedlam 
of  chattering  natives.  One  heard  almost  as 
well  outside  as  within  the  building;  the  high 
windows  were  down  from  the  top,  because 
air  was  precious  and  scarce;  banana  leaves 
fluttered  like  cambric  curtains  before  them! 
if  a  familiar  air  was  struck  upon  the  piano  in 
the  orchestra,  the  Kanakas  lying  in  the  grass 
under  the  garden  fence  took  up  the  refrain 
and  hummed  it  softly  and  sweetly ;  the  music 
ceased,  the  play  began,  the  listeners  in  the 
street,  seeing  no  part  of  the  stage— little,  in 
fact,  save  the  lamp-light  streaming  through 
the  waving  banana  leaves — busied  themselves 
199 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

with  talk;  they  buzzed  like  swarming  bees, 
they  laughed  like  careless  children,  they 
echoed  the  applause  of  the  spectators,  and 
amused  themselves  mightily.  Meanwhile,  the 
royal  family  was  enjoying  the  play  in  the  most 
natural  and  unpretentious  fashion.  Perhaps 
it  was  an  abbreviated  version  of  a  Shakesper- 
ian  tragedy  primitively  played  by  a  limited 
company;  or  it  may  have  been  the  garden 
scene  from  "Romeo  and  Juliet,"  wherein 
Juliet  leaned  from  a  balcony  embowered  with 
palms  and  ferns  transplanted  from  the  gar 
den  for  this  night  only,  and  making  a  picture 
of  surpassing  loveliness. 

Everybody  in  that  house  knew  everybody 
else;  a  solitary  stranger  would  have  been  at 
once  discovered  and  scrutinized.  It  was  like 
a  social  gathering,  where,  indeed,  "carriages 
may  be  ordered  at  10:30;"  but  most  of  the 
participants  walked  home.  Who  would  not 
have  walked  home  through  streets  that  are 
like  garden  paths  very  much  exaggerated; 
where  the  melodious  Kanaka  seeks  in  vain  to 
out-sing  the  tireless  cricket,  and  both  of  them 
are  overcome  by  the  lugubrious  double-bass 
of  the  sea? 

But  to  Proteus  once  more :  When  social  din 
ners  ceased  to  attract,  when  the  boarding- 
200 


THE  DRAMA  IN  DREAMLAND 

house  grew  tedious  and  the  Chinese  restau^ 
rant  became  a  burden,  he  repaired  to  the  cool 
basement  under  the  stage,  a  kind  of  culinary 
laboratory,  such  as  amateurs  in  cookery  de 
light  in,  and  there  he  prepared  the  daintiest 
dishes;  he  and  I  often  partook  of  them  in 
Crusoe-like  seclusion.  Could  anything  be  jol 
lier?  Sweetmeats  and  semi-solitude,  and  the 
Kanaka  with  his  sprinkler  to  turn  on  a  trop 
ical  shower  at  the  shortest  notice.  This  youth 
was  a  shining  example  of  the  ingenuousness 
of  his  race ;  he  had  orders  to  water  the  plants 
at  certain  hours  daily ;  and  one  day  we  found 
him  in  the  garden  under  an  umbrella,  playing 
the  hose  in  opposition  to  a  heavy  rain-storm. 
His  fidelity  established  him  permanently  in  his 
master's  favor. 

Many  strange  characters  found  shelter  un 
der  that  roof :  Thespian  waifs  thrown  upon  the 
mosquito  shore,  who,  perhaps,  rested  for,  a 
time,  and  then  set  sail  again;  prodigal  circus 
boys,  disabled  and  useless,  deserted  by  their 
fellows,  here  bided  their  time ;  basking  in  the 
hot  sunshine,  feeding  on  the  locusts  and  wild 
honey  of  idleness,  they  at  last,  falling  in  with 
some  troupe  of  strolling  athletes,  have  dashed 
again  into  the  glittering  ring  with  new  life,  a 
new  name,  and  a  new  blaze  of  spangles;  the 
201 


THE    ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL    DELIGHTS 

sadness  of  many  a  twilight  in  Honolulu  has 
been  intensified  by  the  melancholy  picking  of 
the  banjo  in  the  hands  of  some  dejected  min 
strel  who  was  coral-stranded  as  it  were.  All 
these  conditions  touched  us  similarly.  Reclin 
ing  in  the  restful' silence  of  that  room,  it  was 
our  wont  to  philosophize  over  glasses  of  lemon 
ade—nothing  stronger  than  this,  for  Proteus 
was  of  singularly  temperate  appetites;  and 
there  I  learned  much  of  those  whom  I  knew 
not  personally,  and  saw  much  of  some  whom  I 
might  elsewhere  have  never  met. 

One  day  he  said  to  me:  "You  like  music; 
come  with  me  and  you  shall  hear  such  as  is 
not  often  heard. ' '  We  passed  down  the  pretty 
lane  upon  which  the  stage  door  opened,  and 
approached  the  sea;  almost  upon  the  edge  of 
it,  and  within  sound  of  the  ripples  that  lapped 
lazily  the  coral  frontage  of  the  esplanade,  we 
turned  into  a  bakery  and  inquired  for  the 
baker's  lady.  She  was  momentarily  expected. 
We  were  shown  into  an  upper  room  scantily 
furnished,  and  from  a  frail  balcony,  that 
looked  unable  to  support  us,  we  watched  the 
coming  of  a  portly  female  in  a  short  frock, 
whose  gait  was  masculine,  and  her  tastes  like 
wise,  for  she  was  smoking  a  large  and  hand 
somely  colored  meerschaum ;  a  huge  dog,  drip- 
202 


THE  DRAMA  IN  DREAMLAND 

ping  sea  water  at  every  step,  walked  demurely 
by  her  side.  Recognizing  Proteus,  who  stood 
somewhat  in  fear  of  her,  for  she  was  bulky 
and  boisterous,  she  hailed  him  with  a  shout 
of  welcome  that  might  have  been  heard  a  block 
away. 

This  was  Madame  Josephine  d'Ormy,  whose 
operatic  career  began— in  America— long  ago 
in  Castle  Garden,  and  ended  disastrously  in 
San  Francisco.  Her  adventures  by  land  and 
sea — she  was  once  shipwrecked — will  not  be 
dwelt  on  here.  Enough  that  she  laid  aside 
her  pipe,  saluted  Proteus  with  an  emphasis 
that  raised  him  a  full  foot  from  the  floor,  and 
learning  that  I  was  from  San  Francisco,  she 
embraced  me  with  emotion;  she  could  not 
speak  of  that  city  without  sobbing.  Placing 
herself  at  an  instrument— it  looked  like  an 
aboriginal  melodeon,  the  legs  of  which  were 
so  feeble  that  the  body  of  it  was  lashed  with 
hempen  cord  to  rings  screwed  into  the  floor- 
she  sang,  out  of  a  heart  that  seemed  utterly 
broken,  a  song  that  was  like  the  cry  of  a  lost 
soul. 

Tears  jetted  from  her  eyes  and  splashed 

upon  her  ample  bosom ;  the  instrument  quaked 

under  her  vigorous  pumping  of  the  pedals; 

it  was  a  question  whether  to  laugh  or  to  weep 

203 


THE   ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL    DELIGHTS 

—a  hysterical  moment— but  the  case  she 
speedily  settled  by  burying  her  face  in  her 
apron  and  trumpeting  sonorously ;  upon 
which,  bursting  into  a  hilarious  ditty,  she  re 
iterated  with  hoarse  "ha,  ha's,"  that  ended 
in  shrieks  of  merriment,  "We'll  laugh  the 
blues  away!" — and  we  did. 

This  extraordinary  woman,  whose  voice,  in 
spite  of  years  of  dissipation,  had  even  to  the 
end  a  charm  of  its  own,  came  to  her  death  in 
San  Francisco  at  the  hands  of  a  brute  who 
was  living  upon  the  wages  she  drew  from  play 
ing  the  piano  in  an  underground  beer  hall. 

Then  there  was  Madame  Marie  Duret,  who, 
having  outlived  the  popularity  of  her  once 
famous  "Jack  Sheppard,"  would  doubtless 
have  ended  her  days  in  Dreamland  chaper 
oning  the  amateurs,  and  probably  braving  the 
footlights  herself  at  intervals,  for  she  was  well 
preserved.  But  alas !  there  was  a  flaw  in  the 
amenities,  and  she  fled  to  worse  luck.  She 
went  to  California,  fighting  poverty  and 
paralysis  with  an  energy  and  good  nature  for 
which  she  was  scarcely  rewarded.  A  mere 
handful  of  friends,  and  most  of  those  recent 
ones,  saw  her  decently  interred. 

And  mad,  marvelous  Walter  Montgomery, 
with  his  sensational  suicide  in  the  first  quar- 
204 


THE  DRAMA  IN  DREAMLAND 

ter  of  a  honeymoon.  He  used  to  ride  a  pranc 
ing  horse  in  Honolulu,  a  horse  that  was  a 
whole  circus  in  itself,  and  scatter  handfuls  of 
small  coin  to  and  fro  just  for  the  fun  of  seeing 
the  little  natives  scramble  for  it. 

And  Madame  Biscaccianti— poor  soul!  the 
thorn  was  never  from  the  breast  of  that  night^ 
ingale.  After  the  bitterest  sorrows  mingled 
with  the  brilliantest  triumphs,  did  she,  I  won 
der,  find  comfortable  obscurity  in  Italy  a  com 
pensation  for  all  her  sufferings?  At  last  she 
sleeps  in  her  unvisited  grave.  Sleep  well,  old 
friend ! 

Proteus  himself  had,  perhaps,  the  most  un 
common  history  of  all.  This  he  related  one 
evening  when  we  were  in  the  happiest  mood; 
there  was  a  panorama  dragging  its  slow  length 
along  before  an  audience  attracted,  no  doubt, 
as  much  by  the  promise  of  numerous  and 
costly  gifts  of  a  sum-total  far  out  stripping 
the  receipts  of  the  house,  as  by  the  highly  col 
ored  pictorial  progress  of  Bunyan's  famous 
Pilgrim.  We  had  been  lounging  in  the  royal 
box,  and,  growing  weary  of  the  entertainment, 
especially  weary  of  a  barrel-organ  that  played 
at  the  heels  of  Christian  through  all  his  tribu 
lation  ;  we  repaired  to  the  green-room,  and 
somehow  fell  to  talking  of  individual  progress, 
205 


THE   ISLAND    OP   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

and  of  the  pack  we  each  of  us  must  carry 
through  storm  and  shine.  Proteus  evidently 
began  his  story  without  premeditation ;  it  was 
not  a  flowing  narrative ;  there  were  spurts  of 
revelation  interrupted  at  intervals  by  the 
strains  of  the  barrel-organ,  from  which  there 
was  no  escape.  Later,  I  was  able  to  follow  the 
thread  of  it,  joining  it  here  and  there,  for  he 
himself  had  become  interested,  and  he  had  fre 
quent  recourse  to  a  diary  which  he  had  steno 
graphed  after  his  own  fashion,  and  the  key  of 
which  no  one  but  himself  possessed. 

He  was  of  New  England  parentage,  born 
in  1826 ;  as  a  youth,  was  delicate  and  effem 
inate  ;  was  gifted  with  many  accomplishments ; 
sketched  well,  sang  well,  played  upon  several 
instruments,  and  was,  withal,  an  uncommon 
linguist.  He  was  a  great  lover  of  nature.  His 
knowledge  was  varied  and  very  accurate;  he 
was  an  authority  upon  most  subjects  which 
interested  him  at  all ;  was  a  botanist  of  repute, 
had  a  smattering  of  many  sciences,  and  was 
correct  as  far  as  he  went  in  all  of  them. 

He  lost  his  father  in  infancy,  and  his  train 
ing  was  left  to  tutors ;  he  was  a  highly  imag 
inative  dreamer,  and  romantic  in  the  extreme ; 
for  this  reason,  and  having  never  known  a 
father's  will,  he  left  home  in  his  youth,  and 
206 


THE  DRAMA  IN  DREAMLAND 

was  for  some  years  a  wanderer,  seeking,  it 
was  thought,  an  elder  brother,  who  had  long 
since  disappeared.  He  was  in  California  in 
early  days ;  in  Hawaii,  Australia,  and  Tahiti ; 
the  love  of  adventure  grew  upon  him;  he 
learned  to  adapt  himself  to  circumstances. 
Though  not  handsome  he  was  well  propor 
tioned  and  possessed  of  much  physical  grace. 
He  traveled  for  a  time  with  a  circus ;  learned 
to  balance  himself  on  a  globe,  to  throw  double- 
somersaults,  and  to  do  daring  trapeze-flights 
in  the  peak  of  the  tent.  Growing  weary  of 
this,  and  having  already  known  and  become 
enamored  of  Hawaii,  he  returned  to  the 
islands,  secured  the  Royal  Hawaiian  Theater 
and  began  life  anew.  His  collection  of  botan 
ical  plants  surrounding  the  theater  was  excep 
tionally  rich  and  a  source  of  profit  to  him; 
but  the  theater  was  his  hobby,  and  he  rode  it 
to  the  last. 

Nothing  seemed  quite  impossible  to  him 
upon  the  stage;  anything  from  light  comedy 
to  eccentric  character  parts  was  in  his  line; 
the  prima  donna  in  burlesque  opera  was  a 
favorite  assumption;  nor  did  he,  out  of  the 
love  of  his  art,  disdain  to  dance  the  wench- 
dance  in  a  minstrel  show ;  he  had  even  a  circus 
of  his  own;  but  his  off  hours  were  employed 
207 


THE    ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL    DELIGHTS 

in  his  garden  or  with  pupils  whom  he  in 
structed  in  music,  dancing,  fencing,  boxing, 
gymnastics,  and  I  know  not  what  else. 

On  one  occasion  he  took  with  him  to  Cali 
fornia  a  troupe  of  Hawaiian  hula-hula  danc 
ers,  the  only  ones  who  have  gone  abroad  pro 
fessionally,  and  his  experiences  with  these  peo 
ple,  whose  language  he  had  made  his  own,  and 
with  whom  he  was  in  full  sympathy,  would 
fill  a  volume.  Their  singular  superstitions; 
the  sacrifices  of  pig  and  fowl  which  he  had  at 
times  to  permit  them  to  make  in  order  to  ap 
pease  their  wrathful  gods ;  the  gypsy  life  they 
led  in  the  interior  of  the  State,  where,  apart 
from  the  settlements,  they  would  camp  by  a 
stream  in  some  canon  and  live  for  a  little  while 
the  life  of  their  beloved  islands;  the  insults 
they  received  in  the  up-country  towns  from 
the  civilized  whites,  who  like  wild  beasts  fell 
upon  them,  and  finally  succeeded  in  demoraliz 
ing  and  disbanding  the  troupe— these  episodes 
he  was  fond  of  enlarging  upon,  and  his  fas 
cinating  narrative  was  enlivened  with  much 
highly  original  and  humorous  detail. 

Through  all  his  vicissitudes  he  preserved  a 

refinement  which  was  remarked  by  every  one 

who  knew  him.     He  was  the  intimate  of  the 

Kings  Lunalillo  I.,  and  Kalakaua  I.,  and  of 

208 


THE  DRAMA  IN   DREAMLAND 

many  Hawaiians  of  rank;  lie  had  danced  in 
the  royal  set  at  court-balls;  was  a  member 
and  correspondent  of  several  scientific  soci 
eties;  a  man  of  the  most  eccentric  descrip 
tion;  greatly  loved  by  a  few,  intensely  dis 
liked  by  many,  and  perhaps  fully  understood 
by  no  one.  He  had  learned  to  hate  the 
world,  and  at  times  to  irritate  himself  very 
much  over  it ;  doubtless  he  had  cause. 

My  last  night  in  the  little  theater  was  the 
pleasantest  of  all.  The  play  was  over;  dur 
ing  its  action  great  ruby-eyed  moths  with 
scarlet  spots  like  blood-drops  on  their  wings 
flew  through  the  windows  and  dove  headlong 
into  the  foot-lights,  where  they  suffered  mar 
tyrdom,  and  eventually  died  to  slow  music; 
and  then  the  rain  came  and  beat  upon  that 
house,  and  it  leaked ;  but  umbrellas  were  not 
prohibited ;  the  shower  was  soon  over ;  we  shook 
our  locks  like  spaniels,  and  laughed  again ;  and 
it  was  all  very  tropical. 

Late  in  the  night  Proteus  and  I  were  sup 
ping  in  the  green-room,  when  he  told  me  in  a 
stage  whisper  how  night  after  night,  when  the 
place  was  as  black  as  a  tomb,  he  had  heard 
a  light  footfall,  a  softly  creaking  floor,  and  a 
mysterious  movement  of  the  furniture;  how 
twice  a  dark  figure  stood  by  his  bedside  with 
209 


THE   ISLAND   OP    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

fixed  eyes,  like  the  ghost  of  Banquo;  there 
was  enough  moonlight  in  the  room  to  reveal 
the  outline  of  this  figure,  and  to  shine  dimly 
through  it  as  through  folds  of  crape.  And 
often  there  were  voices  whispering  audibly, 
and  it  was  as  if  the  disembodied  had  returned 
to  play  their  parts  again  before  a  spectral 
audience  come  from  the  graves  of  the  past; 
and  he  was  sure  to  hear  at  intervals,  above  the 
ghostly  ranting,  the  soft  patter  of  applause— 
"Like  that,"  said  Proteus,  starting  from  his 
chair,  as  a  puff  of  wind  extinguished  the  lamp 
and  left  us  in  awful  darkness.  We  listened. 
I  heard  it,  or  thought  I  heard  it ;  and  though 
a  gentle  rain  was  falling,  I  rushed  out  of  the 
place  bristling  like  the  fretful  porcupine. 

Once  more  I  look  from  the  seaward  window 
of  the  Legation  upon  the  field  where,  in  days 
long  gone,  so  many  histrionic  honors  were 
won.  In  the  midst  of  it  an  itinerant  phe 
nomenon,  "the  celebrated  armless  lady,"  has 
for  the  moment  pitched  her  tent;  presently 
no  doubt,  the  corner  lot  will  be  absorbed  by 
that  ever-increasing  caravansary,  the  Royal 
Hawaiian  Hotel,  and  a  series  of  semi-detached 
villas  for  the  accommodation  of  its  guests  will 
spring  up  under  the  palms. 
210 


THE  DRAMA  IN  DREAMLAND 

Were  the  old  theater  still  standing,  the  leafy 
lattice  of  the  green-room  would  be  directly  op 
posite;  I  might,  in  such  a  case,  by  stretching 
forth  my  hands,  part  the  vines  and  look  once 
more  into  the  haunted  chamber.  Perhaps  he 
wou)d  be  sitting  there  in  pajamas  and  slip 
pers,  his  elbows  resting  on  the  arms  of  his 
chair,  his  face  buried  in  his  hands  as  was  his 
wont  when  his  monologue  ran  dreamily  into 
the  past.  Perhaps  there  would  come  those 
pauses,  so  grateful  even  in  the  most  interest 
ing  discourse,  when  we  said  nothing,  and  for 
got  that  there  was  silence  until  it  was  empha 
sized  by  the  shudder  of  leaves  that  twinkled 
in  the  fitful  summer  gale. 

But  no !  The  long  silence,  unbroken  ever 
more,  has  come  to  him,  as  it  must  come  to  each 
and  all,  and  there  is  little  left  to  tell  of  a  tale 
that  ended  tragically. 

I  often  wondered  what  fate  was  in  reserve 
for  Proteus;  in  the  eternal  fitness  of  things  a 
climax  seemed  inevitable;  yet  the  few  bits  of 
tattered  and  mildewed  scenery  leaning  against 
the  fence,  the  weights  of  the  drop  curtain,  like 
cannon  balls,  half  buried  in  the  grass,  and  the 
bier  over  which  Hamlet  and  Laertes  were  wont 
to  mouth— now  standing  in  the  midst  of  an 
unrecognizable  heap  of  rubbish— are  not  less 
211 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

heeded  than  is  the  memory  of  one  who  was 
a  distinguished  character  in  his  time. 

He  fell  upon  evil  days ;  was  hurried  out  of 
the  kingdom  to  suffer  the  slings  and  arrows 
of  outrageous  fortune;  contumely,  humilia 
tion,  abject  poverty— these  were  his  compan 
ions  in  an  exile  and  the  company  of  these  he 
endured  with  heroic  fortitude.  At  last  he 
found  asylum  in  his  native  town,  but  not  the 
one  he  would  have  chosen,  nor  the  one  of 
which  he  was  deserving ;  yet  that  he  was  grate 
ful  for  even  this  much  is  evident  from  the 
tenor  of  a  letter  which  I  received  from  him 
in  his  last  days.  He  wrote: 

i  i  If  you  could  see  and  know  how  restricted 
my  present  life  is,  you  would  realize  how  more 
than  welcome  your  letter  was 

"In  your  reference  to  the  past,  my  mind 
went  with  you,  as  it  has  often  done  without 
you,  back  to  the  pleasant  hours  we  have  spent 
together.  Often  in  my  loneliness  I  recur  to 
them,  with  the  same  gratitude  that  a  traveler 
feels  when  he  recalls  to  mental  view  the  oases 
that  softened  the  weariness  of  the  desert. 

'  *  I  hope  I  am  as  thankful  as  I  should  be  for 
the  power  of  memory ;  in  the  present  darkness 
I  have  many  bright  pictures  of  the  past  to 
look  upon :  these  are  my  consolation. 
212 


THE  DRAMA  IN  DREAMLAND 

"I  have  to  be,  as  the  Hebrews  term  it,  in'a 
several  house;'  I  am  in  a  large,  well-heated, 
well-ventilated  upper  room  with  a  south 
easterly  aspect;  I  see  no  one  but  the  phy 
sicians,  the  superintendent,  and  my  especial 
attendant. 

"In  this  seclusion  from  the  world  in  which 
I  have  seen  so  much  variety,  you  may  well 
believe  I  have  leisure  for  thought  and  retro 
spection.  How  many  experiences  I  would  love 
to  live  over  again!  how  many  I  would  gladly 
efface  from  the  records  of  memory ! 

"In  the  vacuity  of  my  present  condition  I 
long  for  occupation,  but  my  misfortune  pre 
cludes  the  hope  of  it.  Only  one  thing  is  cer 
tain;  I  must  try  to  be  content,  and  give  an 
example  of  resignation  if  I  can  do  no  other 
good. 

"I  have  gone  through  this  sorrowful  detail 
because  you  requested  it,  and  I  regret  to  give 
you  the  pain  of  reading  it.  ...  Write 
when  you  will;  a  letter  from  you  will  bring 
with  it  a  sense  of  the  light  which  I  have  once 
known— now  gone  forever." 

Of  course  I  wrote  again— on  the  instant; 
but  before  my  letter  had  reached  that  melan 
choly  house  the  telegraph  had  flashed  through 
out  the  continent  news  of  his  ignoble  death. 
213 


THE   ISLAND   OP   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

For  Proteus  was  none  other  than  he  who, 
through  the  irony  of  fate,  came  to  be  known 
as  "The  Salem  Leper." 

Whether  he  was  or  was  not  a  leper  is  a 
question  upon  which  the  doctors  disagree ;  but 
I  know  that  his  life  for  two  years  before  he 
found  shelter  in  the  almshouse  of  his  native 
town  was  of  the  most  agonizing  description. 
Perfidious  gossip  hunted  him  down ;  vile  slan 
der  drove  him  from  door  to  door ;  his  imagin 
ation  peopled  the  air  with  foes ;  and  even  the 
few  true  and  tried  friends  who  stood  by  him 
found  it  difficult  at  times  to  persuade  him 
that  they  were  not  spies  upon  him. 

Oh  death,  where  is  thy  sting !  So  it  seems 
that  even  in  Dreamland  the  drama  is  not  all 
a  delusion,  and  that  in  one  case,  at  least,  the 
reality  was  more  cruel  than  the  grave. 


214 


A  SAWDUST  FAIRY 


A  SAWDUST  FAIRY 

JLT  was  twilight  in  Hornitos,  the  twilight  of 
the  California  summer— a  very  roomy  twi 
light,  that  is  at  first  blue  and  then  purple,  with 
a  silver  lustre  in  it,  and  finally  grows  dense 
with  seamless  and  unbroken  shadows. 

Hornitos  has  not,  however,  a  twilight  of  its 
own :  I  had  not  sought  that  dull  Spanish  town 
for  any  beauty  it  possessed  in  the  heavens 
above,  or  in  the  earth  beneath,  or  in  the  waters 
under  the  earth.  In  truth,  its  water-privi 
leges  are  so  limited  that  only  out  of  compli 
ment  may  they  be  spoken  of  in  the  plural.  I 
had  been  dragged  through  the  fine  floating 
dust  of  the  foot-hills  for  hours  and  hours. 
The  heavens  were  as  brass;  the  overburdened 
coach  was  as  a  full  orchestra  of  tinking  cym 
bals;  the  mouth  of  every  man,  woman  and 
child  aboard  was  stopped  with  a  poultice  of 
moist  clay:  the  deck  passengers,  mostly  Mon 
golians,  had  wilted  flat  over  heaps  of  luggage 
lashed  to  the  roof;  the  driver,  falling  out  of 
love  with  his  jaded  beasts,  made  savage  cuts 
at  the  leaders  with  a  whip -lash  of  extraordi 
nary  length.  At  such  intervals  he  seemed  to 
start  from  sleep,  or  something  very  like  it,  such 
217 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

as  broods  over  the  summer  of  the  foot-hills, 
and  possesses  all  animated  Nature  save  only 
the  rasping  locusts  and  the  clamoring  katy 
dids. 

As  we  labored  over  the  low  hills,  leaving  a 
long  wake  of  floating  dust  behind  us,  we  once 
or  twice  sighted  a  distant  habitation  that  gave 
us  hope  of  rest  in  the  near  future.  We  were 
evidently  nearing  port :  we  were  soon  to  alight 
in  a  tenable  spot,  and  meet  face  to  face  other 
men  and  women  and  children,  who,  like  us, 
had  braved  the  fixed  billows  of  baked  earth 
wherein  no  tree  has  the  hardihood  to  strike  its 
roots,  and  whereon  the  short  grass  is  withered 
and  curled  beneath  the  fierce  heat  of  the  in 
terminable,  unclouded  summer. 

Mounting  the  last  billow  with  evident  effort, 
we  rolled  rapidly  down  into  the  town  with 
more  flourish  than  there  was  any  excuse  for; 
but  this  is  the  time-honored  custom  of  every 
driver  on  the  line,  and  we  were  none  of  us  in 
the  mood  to  enter  a  protest  against  the  as 
sumption  of  a  gayety  we  were  far  from  feel 
ing. 

In  the  course  of  Nature,  Hornitos  should 

have  hailed  our  arrival  with  visible  emotion: 

a  deputation  of  the  idle  and  the  curious  was 

expected  to  await  us  on  the  veranda  of  the 

218 


A   SAWDUST   FAIRY 

chief  hotel;  we  thought  to  see  the  doors  and 
the  windows  open  up  and  down  the  main 
street ;  heads  thrust  forth ;  in  brief,  every  soul 
we  met  should  have  turned  at  us— but  noth 
ing  of  the  kind  occurred.  It  was  evident 
that  there  was  a  counter-attraction  somewhere 
within  the  limits  of  the  little  town.  We  passed 
on  between  a  double  row  of  squat  adobe  houses, 
over  whose  roofs,  scalloped  with  tiles,  we 
might  almost  have  vaulted  from  the  stage-box, 
and  drew  up  at  the  hotel  door  with  an  abrupt 
ness  that  left  the  clumsy  vehicle  bucking  like 
a  bronco.  Our  hair,  beard  and  eyebrows  were 
powdered  with  dust,  we  were  all  of  a  color, 
and  it  was  some  time  before  we  came  back  to 
Nature  and  greeted  one  another  over  a  late 
dinner. 

The  next  stage  left  at  midnight ;  why  it  left 
at  that  witching  hour  it  would  be  hard  to 
state;  perhaps  because  the  road  beyond  was 
even  more  uninteresting  than  the  road  just 
passed,  and  the  stage  company  had  some  re 
gard  for  our  feelings.  At  all  events,  we  were 
to  be  called  out  at  midnight,  and  wheeled  off 
again  among  the  ribbed  and  rolling  hills  to 
ward  some  other  port,  half  Spanish  and  half 
paralyzed.  There  is  a  broad  belt  between  the 
fruitful  lowlands  and  the  fair  highlands  of 
219 


THE   ISLAND   OP   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

California  whereon  nothing  more  fair  or  fruit 
ful  than  the  gaunt  cactus  stretches  its  flat  and 
thorny  wings;  there  you  may  look  for  the 
adobe  and  its  swarthy  brood.  Hornitos  is  a 
fork  in  the  roads  strung  full  of  cacti  and 
adobes. 

I  forget  just  where  I  was  going.  It  was  not 
my  first  advent  nor  my  second  in  that  town: 
probably  I  was  heading  for  Yosemite  or  the 
monstrous  trees;  possibly  I  was  slowly  work 
ing  my  way  across  the  country  toward  that 
high  sweet-water  sea,  Tahoe,  the  pearl  of  the 
Sierras;  at  any  rate  I  was  going  somewhere, 
and  was  booked  for  the  midnight  stage. 

Meanwhile,  I  must  needs  kill  time  that  dies 
hard  in  a  Spanish  town.  I  sauntered  forth. 
The  cloudless  sky  had  arched  itself,  and 
seemed  to  retreat  farther  and  farther  from 
the  earth ;  a  few  stars  pricked  through  it  with 
sharp  and  dazzling  points;  up  and  down  the 
main  street  the  lamps  were  less  brilliant  than 
these  stars,  and  but  for  the  inexpressible  love 
liness  of  the  evening  Hornitos  would  have  lain 
heavy  on  my  mind.  I  kept  to  the  sidewalk 
while  it  lasted,  though  again  and  again  I  was 
precipitated  into  heaps  of  refuse  that  were 
doubtless  the  foundations  of  sidewalks  yet  to 
be,  yet  they  poorly  compensated  for  the  ab- 
220 


A   SAWDUST   FAIRY 

sence  of  the  narrow  planking  such  as  is  usually 
met  with  and  soon  parted  with  in  the  village 
streets. 

There  was  an  uncommon  stir  among  the  in 
habitants:  clusters  of  people  were  passing 
more  or  less  rapidly  through  the  town  toward 
the  opposite  side  from  that  on  which  we  had 
entered.  I  turned  and  followed  on  their  track : 
it  was  pleasant  to  stretch  my  legs  after  the 
cramped  quarters  afforded  by  the  stage.  Our 
procession  swelled  rapidly  into  respectable 
proportions :  half  the  population  seemed  to  be 
drifting  in  the  same  direction,  while  the  other 
half  stood  by  and  followed  the  outsetting  tide 
with  earnest  and  eager  eyes.  Fortunately,  the 
gathering  darkness  resolved  us  into  an  anony 
mous  mass;  it  is  humiliating  to  be  jogging 
along  with  a  crowd,  no  matter  how  genteel  it 
may  be,  for  one  is  bound  to  feel  so  common 
and  so  small. 

The  edge  of  the  town  was  soon  reached :  it  is 
the  redeeming  feature  of  most  country  places 
that  there  is  very  little  of  them.  By  this  time 
I  had  solved  the  mystery  of  the  evacuation  of 
Hornitos.  An  enormous  barndoor  cartoon, 
done  in  such  high  lights  that  the  figures  stood 
out  in  the  dusk  with  preternatural  vividness, 
betrayed  the  agreeable  fact  that  an  equestrian 
221 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

company  would  that  evening  have  the  honor 
of  appearing  before  the  citizens  of  Hornitos. 
It  was  well,  it  was  very  well  indeed!  I  love 
a  circus— once  in  a  thousand  years:  I  court 
the  blinding  flash  of  the  spangles  as  a  moth 
the  flame  that  consumes  him;  spangles  are 
my  divine  despair;  could  I  be  born  again— 
which  I  cannot  at  this  late  hour— I  would 
choose  to  come  of  a  long  line  of  gymnastic 
ancestors,  with  a  side-splitting  clown  for  an 
uncle;  I  would  have  limber  legs,  that  go  any 
way  of  their  own  free  will;  and  a  spine  like 
a  centipede's,  that  bends  over  as  naturally 
as  a  hoop ;  I  would  be  reared  on  the  amiable 
stock  horse,  with  his  padded  back  as  flat  as  a 
floor ;  and  I  would  know  all  the  cunning  tricks 
of  the  ring,  such  as  climbing  pyramids  of 
decanters,  and  shooting  myself  through  num 
berless  wreaths,  and  spinning  myself  madly 
about  like  a  weather-cock  in  a  hurricane,  with 
the  top  of  a  tall  pole  set  in  the  pit  of  my 
stomach.  The  scent  of  the  sawdust  would  be 
to  me  as  attar  of  rose,  and  applause  my  meat 
and  drink ;  I  would  dress  scantily,  but  gor 
geously,  in  fleshings  and  silver ;  I  would  be  the 
pet  of  the  men  and  the  darling  of  the  ladies, 
and  the  youth  of  the  land  should  see  me  and 
die  of  envy.  All  this  I  would  if  I  could.  But 
222 


A   SAWDUST   FAIRY 

I  have  none  of  it:  perhaps  you  know  why  I 
have  not  ?  Let  it  pass :  how  many  lives  begin 
at  the  wrong  end,  and  have  their  climax  in 
the  middle! 

As  we  drew  near  the  forum— slowly  enough, 
for  the  crowd  was  dense  and  not  charitable— 
every  man  pressed  forward  blindly  in  search 
of  a  ticket-office,  which  apparently  did  not 
exist.  The  great  tent  glowed  like  an  enormous 
illuminated  balloon,  and  swayed  gently  to  and 
fro  in  the  light  breeze  that  had  risen  at  sun 
set  ;  a  row  of  weather-worn  and  travel-stained 
vans  encircled  the  field,  and  two  or  three 
bright  fires  threw  a  lurid  glow  over  a  thousand 
faces  that  looked  all  alike,  and  therefore  very 
ludicrous,  as  they  stared  at  the  narrow  en 
trance  to  the  arena.  Evidently,  the  circus  was 
popular  in  Hornitos,  for  a  throng  of  citizens 
stormed  the  ticket-office.  If  I  had  only  known 
where  to  look,  I  might  have  sighted  it  a  mile 
off,  for  a  beacon  flamed  on  the  roof  of  it,  while 
close  at  hand  a  small  orchestra  of  brass  instru 
ments  blew  out  their  blustering  music  at 
random ;  the  canvas  roof  of  the  tent  seemed 
to  heave  gently  to  the  vibrations  of  the  boister 
ous  harmony. 

I  slowly  worked  my  way  to  the  edge  of  the 
crowd,  for  I  hate  being  buried  alive  in  any 
223 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

shape:  instinctively  my  steps  led  me  to  the 
rear  of  the  tent,  where  a  smaller  tent  shel 
tered  the  performers,  man  and  beast.  To  me 
this  was  ever  a  charming  and  charmed  spot. 
There  was  a  hum  of  voices  within :  had  the 
place  been  full  of  hiving  bees  there  could  not 
have  been  a  busier  stir  than  I  there  heard.  I 
walked  to  and  fro,  catching  floating  fragments 
of  sentences  that  filled  me  with  curiosity  and 
desire.  Why  could  I  not  enter  and  see  some 
thing  of  the  inner  life  of  these  picturesque 
nomads,  who  compass  the  world  with  their 
gorgeous  caravans,  and  are  welcome  in  every 
land,  for  they  speak  a  language  intelligible  to 
the  whole  world,  the  language  of  grace  and 
beauty  ? 

Great  shadow-horses  moved  about  on  the 
white  canvas  of  the  dressing-tent;  shadow- 
men  passed  to  and  fro  like  living  statues;  a 
strange  and  interesting  pantomine  was  in 
course  of  action,  and  I  alone,  of  all  the  throng 
of  anxious  pleasure-seekers,  had  the  good  for 
tune  to  stumble  upon  it. 

No,  I  was  not  quite  alone.  Two  or  three 
youngsters,  who  had  stolen  up  unobserved, 
were  watching  the  shadow-play  with  me,  but 
in  a  silent  rapture.  Perhaps  we  were  all  medi 
tating  a  secret  entrance  under  the  loose  can- 


A   SAWDUST    FAIRY 

vas  of  the  tent— perhaps  we  proposed  to 
throw  ourselves  simultaneously  on  our  respec 
tive  stomachs  and  insert  our  heads  in  a  row 
under  the  thin  walls  that  shut  us  out  from  the 
mysteries  of  professional  life.  I  don't  know 
what  might  not  have  happened  had  time 
enough  been  given  us,  but  as  it  was,  we  were 
cut  down  in  the  prime  of  our  purposes  by  the 
unexpected  appearance  of  an  important  per 
sonage  who  emerged  from  the  green-room  and 
demanded  the  nature  of  our  business  in  that 
forbidden  locality.  My  comrades  being  young 
sters  and  light  of  foot,  fled  like  frightened 
kids:  I  stood  my  ground,  for  I  was  too  late 
to  retreat  in  good  order.  Fancy  my  delight 
when  the  important  personage  drew  near  to 
me,  and  then,  on  a  sudden  recognition,  em 
braced  me  with  flattering  fervor !  He  was  my 
good  friend,  Mr.  Crook.  Surely,  you  know 
him— Mr.  Crook  of  Astley's,  the  clown,  the 
funambulist,  the  horse-tamer,  the  Shakespear 
ian  jester,  the  whatnot?  Mr.  Crook  took  me 
in  hand  as  if  I  were  a  desirable  acquisition  to 
his  unrivalled  company.  Mr.  Crook  said: 
"Come  in,  my  friend,  and  make  yourself  at 
home.  I  am  busy— you  see  I  have  my  hands 
full— but  here  is  room  for  you."  We  entered 
the  delightful  retreat,  and  I  was  at  once  in 
225 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

the  midst  of  the  most  picturesque  spectacle  my 
eyes  ever  fell  upon  in  a  civilized  world. 

Close  to  the  canvas  flap  at  the  entrance 
stood  a  score  of  thoroughbreds  just  then  being 
decked  in  splendid  paraphernalia  (a  very 
potent  odor  of  the  stable  saluted  my  nostrils, 
but  I  was  prepared  for  this)  ;  a  span  of  Shet 
land  ponies  nodded  to  me  as  if  they  were 
actually  delighted  to  welcome  a  friend  of  Mr. 
Crook ;  a  trick  mule  presented  one  hind  hoof 
for  me  to  shake,  as  if  that  were  the  customary 
exchange  of  compliments  between  man  and 
beast. 

No  one  else  took  notice  of  my  entrance,  and 
I  followed  Mr.  Crook  into  the  farthest  part  of 
the  enclosure,  where  curtains  were  hung  about 
in  various  corners,  dividing  it  into  a  series  of 
small  closets  or  dressing-rooms.  In  one  of 
these  closets  across  which  the  curtain  was  but 
half  drawn,  a  girl  in  an  exceedingly  short 
skirt  was  rouging  with  considerable  abandon ; 
in  the  enclosure  next  her,  which  was  likewise 
open  to  inspection,  two  superbly  propor 
tioned  gymnasts  were  testing  their  strength  as 
a  prelude  to  the  brilliant  act  which  was  shortly 
to  electrify  the  public.  Three  clowns  con 
tented  themselves  with  a  nook  formed  by  two 
dressing-rooms,  and  all  three  were  busy  over  a 
226 


A   SAWDUST    FAIRY 

half-melted  candle  and  the  fraction  of  a 
mirror  that  was  passed  from  hand  to  hand, 
while  they  decorated  their  faces  with  moons 
in  partial  eclipse  and  long  streaks  of  red  paint 
that  shone  like  blood  on  the  ashen  whiteness  of 
their  thickly-powdered  faces.  A  dozen 
"supers"  stood  about  in  scarlet  coats  and  Hes 
sian  boots,  waiting  their  calls. 

Mr.  Crook  led  me  to  the  farther  corner  of 
the  tent,  raised  a  curtain  that  formed  one  side 
of  the  last  dressing-room  of  the  series  and  bade 
me  enter.  "This,  sir,"  said  he  with  palpable 
pride,  "this,  sir,  is  Young  Romeo,  the  star  of 
the  arena.  Pray  be  seated;  as  you  cannot 
take  a  chair  take  a  box  or  a  basket,  and  make 
yourself  at  home."  I  took  a  basket  on  end, 
and  Mr.  Crook  withdrew.  There  was  nothing 
else  in  the  enclosure  but  a  large  box  or  a 
basket,  with  the  lid  thrown  back :  half  buried 
in  this  box  was  a  little  fellow  as  lithe  and 
graceful  as  a  fairy,  pawing  about  in  the  midst 
of  an  ample  wardrobe  of  the  most  extraor 
dinary  decription,  throwing  plumed  caps, 
velvet  capes,  silk  trunks  and  spangled  sashes 
over  his  head  in  a  flowing  fountain  of  dry 
goods.  I  had  scarcely  discerned  what  manner 
of  boy  this  was  when  a  cap  of  cotton  velvet 
about  large  enough  for  an  epaulette  descended 

227 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

upon  the  candle  and  snuffed  it  out.  Young 
Romeo  uttered  a  sharp  exclamation  in  one 
syllable;  I  will  not  record  it.  To  the  heart 
of  the  saint  it  brings  no  terror;  to  the  heart 
of  the  sinner  it  is  everything— everything  that 
is  applicable  to  everything  else;  it  suits  all 
moods,  all  tenses,  all  weathers.  The  warmth 
of  this  remark  had  scarcely  cooled  when  I 
struck  a  match  and  relit  the  candle,  thinking 
it  a  convenient  way  of  getting  better  ac 
quainted  with  the  juvenile  pride  of  the  arena. 

Young  Komeo  forgot  to  thank  me  for  my 
civility:  it  was  evidently  out  of  place.  He 
continued  his  excavations,  and  finally  emerged 
from  the  depths  of  the  great  box  with  a  glit 
tering  star  of  the  first  magnitude  in  his  hand. 
Then  he  leaped  into  the  air,  and  closing  the 
box-lid  with  a  sudden  movement,  he  lit  on  the 
top  of  it  with  one  foot  as  high  as  his  head, 
and  the  star  held  aloft  in  a  rapture  that  not 
only  suffused  his  face  with  a  beauty  that  was 
almost  angelic,  but  made  his  whole  frame  seem 
radiant  with  light:  at  that  moment  it  would 
not  have  astonished  me  had  he  floated  off  on 
the  air  and  vanished  like  a  wraith  against  the 
canvas  roof  of  the  tent. 

I  wish  small  circus  boys  didn't  look  so  much 
like  cupids :  I  wish  they  need  not  do  airy  and 
228 


A   SAWDUST   FAIRY 

bewitching  things  that  make  one  dissatisfied 
with  plain,  honest,  every-day  people. 

Having  dazzled  me,  apparently  without  ot'- 
fort,  Young  Ronieo  leaped  into  the  air,  turned 
a  bewildering  somersault  and  landed  at  my 
feet:  he  then  ordered  me,  with  an  impudent 
assumption  of  authority  that  was  not  at  all 
in  keeping  with  his  personal  appearance,  to 
fasten  the  star  to  the  flesh-colored  shirt  that 
fitted  him  like  a  glove.  I  attached  the  glitter 
ing  ornament  to  his  breast  and  awaited  fur 
ther  orders. 

"Come  on,"  said  Young  Romeo  with  all  the 
gruffness  of  a  baby  Macbeth  as  he  led  the  way 
to  the  heavy  drapery  that  swung  before  the 
entrance  to  the  arena.  We  stood  in  the  pas 
sage  and  peeped  through  the  folds  of  the  cur 
tain  with  mutual  satisfaction.  The  amphi 
theatre  was  crowded  from  the  ring  to  the  last 
row  of  raised  benches  that  surrounded  it ;  the 
orchestra  had  just  taken  its  place  on  the  plat 
form  over  our  heads :  everybody  was  in  a  state 
of  excitement;  it  was  delicious  and  intoxicat 
ing.  Young  Ronieo  turned  suddenly,  as  if  un 
able  to  restrain  himself  longer,  threw  half  a 
dozen  somersaults  back  into  the  dressing-room, 
and  returned  to  me  with  a  face  flushed  even 
through  magnesia. 

229 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

The  orchestra  crashed  into  an  overture  that 
was  highly  inspiriting :  then  came  the  grand 
entree  of  a  dozen  supers  well  mounted,  led 
by  a  painted  lady  in  a  dashing  riding  habit. 
They  waltzed  and  polked  and  quadrilled, 
those  trained  animals,  with  as  much  precision 
and  grace  as  if  they  had  been  bred  in  a 
dancing-school.  They  knelt  down  on  their 
knees  and  made  obeisances  to  the  occupants 
of  the  high-priced  seats:  then  they  whirled 
thrice  around  the  ring  at  utmost  speed— the 
glory  of  their  nostrils  was  terrible — and 
darted  past  us  into  the  dressing-tent,  leaving 
a  cloud  of  sawdust  behind  them. 

We  were  covered  with  it,  Young  Romeo  and 
I,  as  well  as  the  two  supers  who  caught  back 
the  curtains  just  in  season  to  let  the  caravan 
make  its  escape  in  safety:  I  wonder  that  we 
were  not  crushed  to  death.  Romeo  was  not 
in  the  least  disconcerted;  he  dusted  himself 
with  his  hands,  and  beckoned  me  to  follow 
him. 

Mademoiselle  Idalia,  the  Equestrian  Sylph, 
or  some  such  party,  was  about  to  hop  back 
and  forth  on  the  padded  horse  and  leap 
through  capacious  hoops,  just  as  her  grand 
mother  and  her  great-grandmother  had  done 
before  her.  It  was  the  old,  the  stupid  old  act, 
230 


A   SAWDUST   FAIRY 

that  was  never  anything  but  a  bore,  and  I  was 
glad  to  escape  it. 

Mr.  Crook  in  full  evening-dress,  with  a  whip 
that  snapped  like  a  pistol  shot,  introduced  the 
mademoiselle.  She  was  a  high-stepping  and 
ill-tempered  girl,  who  had  hard  words  for  one 
of  the  supers  when  she  came  in  from  her  brief 
triumph.  The  unlucky  fellow  had  tripped  her 
with  a  banner,  and  she  bade  him  repair  at 
once  to  a  life  out  of  the  flesh  at  a  temperature 
that  no  man  in  his  right  mind  would  seek  will 
ingly.  Young  Romeo  encouraged  her  in  her 
language,  but  this  she  resented,  and  there  was 
a  battle  of  words  which  Mr.  Crook  alone 
proved  able  to  bring  to  a  harmless  close. 

It  seemed  strange  to  me  that  a  child  so  like 
a  spirit,  an  angel  out  of  a  picture,  such  as 
Young  Romeo  surely  was,  could  retain  an  atom 
of  his  natural  beauty  in  so  polluting  an  atmos 
phere.  My  heart  bled  for  him :  it  is  a  way 
my  heart  has  of  doing,  and  it  has  caused  me 
much  unnecessary  and  useless  pain ;  but  it  con 
tinues  to  keep  at  it,  for  experience  has  taught 
me  how  precious  a  boon  sympathy  is,  though 
so  often  wasted. 

Eomeo  and  I  talked  freely  at  last:  he  was 
presently  to  make  his  entree  in  a  treble  act 
with  the  gymnasts  in  the  neighboring  dressing- 
231 


THE   ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

room.  Had  I  seen  him  on  his  ponies  alone? 
Unfortunately,  I  had  not,  and  was  obliged  to 
say  as  much.  Ah !  I  should  have  seen  him  at 
'Frisco,  with  a  flag  in  each  hand,  a  long  bridle 
in  his  teeth  and  his  two  little  legs  spread  out 
between  his  two  little  ponies  in  a  low  bridge 
from  back  to  back.  Had  I  seen  him  with  the 
Flying  Men?  Again  I  was  forced  to  confess 
that  I  had  not  had  the  happiness.  Very  well, 
I  should  see  him  presently,  he  said,  though  he 
evidently  thought  meanly  of  me  for  being  un 
acquainted  with  his  fame. 

Young  Romeo  was  not  idle  a  moment:  he 
ran  into  the  arena  when  the  great  carpet  was 
spread  and  tumbled  with  twenty  other  tum 
blers,  and  out-tumbled  them  every  one;  he 
climbed  over  the  backs  and  under  the  bellies 
of  horses  that  seemed  to  care  no  more  for  him 
than  if  he  had  been  a  rather  large  fly,  nor 
half  so  much  indeed ;  he  played  the  pranks  of 
a  very  Puck,  and  was  the  wonder  and  delight 
of  a  row  of  boys  about  his  own  size,  who 
reached  into  the  ring  when  he  skipped  about 
just  to  touch  him  and  see  if  he  were  really 
flesh  and  blood. 

He  was  the  soul,  the  little  fair  soul,  of  the 
company— dainty,  diminutive,  delightful  in 
the  eyes  of  the  immense  audience.  He  was  as 
232 


A   SAWDUST   FAIRY 

warmly  greeted  whenever  he  leaped  into  the 
ring  as  if  he  had  actually  dropped  out  of  the 
air;  and  when  he  left  it,  after  posing  for  a 
moment  in  an  attitude  exquisitely  graceful 
and  artful,  showering  whole  handfuls  of  kisses 
upon  the  ladies  and  giving  the  gentlemen  a 
very  saucy  nod,  he  vanished  behind  the  cur 
tains  followed  by  thunderous  applause  that 
was  sure  to  bring  him  out  again  with  a  pretty 
affectation  of  infantile  modesty  that  was  far 
too  effective  to  be  genuine. 

Herr  Hercules  next  rode  a  monstrous  horse, 
and  tossed  cannon-balls  about  in  the  air  as  if 
they  had  been  bubbles  of  ink.  Herr  Hercules 
was  a  bore,  as  mere  strength  without  grace  or 
sentiment  is  bound  to  be. 

Borneo  and  I  returned  to  the  dressing-room 
and  sat  together  on  the  wardrobe  box.  Romeo 
asked  if  I  had  a  chaw  about  me:  I  half  re 
gretted  that  I  had  not,  for  I  wanted  to  oblige 
him  in  some  way  or  other;  but  permit  me  to 
add  in  self-defense  that  my  mouth  is  not  a 
tobacco-vat. 

Romeo  took  it  as  a  personal  slight  that  I 
wasn't  provided  with  the  article  he  so  much 
desired,  and  going  sulkily  to  a  shabby  jacket 
that  lay  in  the  corner,  he  took  from  a  pocket 
the  short,  stout  stump  of  a  cigar :  it  was  badly 
233 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL    DELIGHTS 

chewed  at  one  end  and  burned  diagonally  at 
the  other.  There  was  scarcely  an  inch  of  it 
left,  but  it  had  ill  odor  enough  to  poison  my 
nostrils.  Romeo  lit  this  nauseating  thing  at 
the  candle  and  smoked  for  a  moment  in  silence. 
I  may  as  well  add  that  I  do  indulge  in  the 
dry  weed,  but  I  do  not  smoke  the  corpse  of  a 
cigar  under  any  circumstances. 

I  ventured  to  ask  Romeo  his  age :  he  looked 
about  six,  an  oldish  and  precocious  six;  he 
might  have  been  seven  on  a  pinch,  but  I 
doubted  it.  Young  Romeo  was  fifteen,  as  near 
as  he  could  guess ;  he  wasn  't  sure,  and  didn  't 
care  a  something  which  I  have  vainly  tried 
to  forget  ever  since  he  mentioned  it:  I  have 
heard  the  same  expression  often  enough  in  the 
world,  but  it  sounded  quite  shocking  as  it  came 
from  those  baby  lips.  He  could  not  possibly 
have  looked  fifteen. 

Romeo  consented  to  tell  me  his  story.  It 
began  under  the  roof  of  a  home  in  a  great 
city;  poverty  and  want  and  cruelty  were  his 
companions.  He  was  attracted,  as  all  children 
old  and  young  are  ever  attracted,  by  the  glit 
tering  caravan  encamped  in  the  quarter  of  the 
city  where  he  lived ;  he  hung  about  the  circus- 
field  night  and  day ;  he  ran  errands  and  threw 
himself  in  the  way  of  circus-folk  because  he 

234 


A   SAWDUST   FAIRY 

was  fascinated  by  their  life;  the  circus  was 
to  him  a  paradise  on  wheels  that  passed  from 
land  to  land  and  from  clime  to  clime  in  one 
golden  round  of  years.  He  was  cuffed  and 
kicked  and  cursed  for  getting  under  foot  of 
brutal  and  low-minded  men;  he  was  dragged 
out  from  under  the  canvas  by  one  leg,  all 
that  was  left  of  him  on  the  worldly  side  of 
his  paradise ;  he  was  ducked  in  the  water- 
trough  and  turned  into  the  streets  drenched 
and  weeping;  he  had  had  tar  daubed  in  his 
hair,  and  was  once  cruelly  beaten  with  a  rope 's 
end;  but  he  crept  back  to  the  charmed  land 
and  hid  himself  in  the  crowd  only  to  hear 
the  harsh  music  that  was  passing  sweet  in  his 
ears,  the  neighing  of  the  Arabian  steeds  and 
the  pawing  of  the  Shetland  ponies,  the  clown 's 
jest,  the  snap  of  the  ring-master's  whip,  and 
the  applause,  the  darling,  the  terribly  sweet 
applause  that  even  then  made  his  blood  tingle 
and  his  heart  sick  with  envy. 

One  day  the  master  saw  him.  The  circus 
season  was  near  its  close;  the  company  was 
about  starting  on  a  long  voyage  to  many  dis 
tant  lands,  and  there  would  be  plenty  of  time 
on  shipboard  to  break  in  a  boy.  A  boy  is  very 
useful  in  a  circus;  in  fact,  a  circus  is  not  a 
circus  without  a  circus-boy.  The  proprietor 
235 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

had  lost  his  boy ;  the  stupid  fellow  had  missed 
his  footing  and  broken  his  neck  not  two  months 
before.  Heaven  knows  where  he  had  come 
from  and  whither  he  went,  but  he  was  buried 
in  the  town  where  he  met  with  his  shocking 
death ;  the  band  played  a  slow  march  over  his 
open  grave,  and  then  went  back  to  the  circus- 
grounds  to  drum  up  a  crowd  for  the  evening. 
Romeo,  whose  name  was  Skits  or  Skites, 
gladly  accepted  the  tempting  proposal  of  the 
circus-master,  which  sounded,  as  he  recalled 
it,  something  like  the  following:  "If  you  will 
go  all  over  the  world  with  us,  my  little  man, 
and  do  your  prettiest,  I  will  give  you  six 
ponies,  some  of  the  most  beautiful  dresses  you 
ever  saw,  and  as  much  money  as  you  can 
spend."  There  was  no  leave-taking  and  no 
leave-asking:  he  never  went  back  to  his 
wretched  home,  which  was  doubtless  even  more 
wretched  now  that  he  had  deserted  it,  for  the 
very  sight  of  his  face  was  sunshine,  and  he 
had  all  the  coquetry  of  infancy  even  in  his 
fifteenth  year.  0  !  he  certainly  could  not  have 
been  above  twelve.  Well,  Romeo  went  to  sea, 
and  died  daily  for  the  next  six  months.  It 
was  rather  late  to  unjoint  the  body  without 
pain,  and  you  know  you  can't  tie  your  legs  in 
bow-knots  on  the  first  sitting.  Try  it  and  see 
236 


A   SAWDUST   FAIRY 

if  you  can.  He  went  through  all  the  other 
bitter  phases  of  that  bitter  life  and  began  to 
grow  tough  and  cruel  under  it.  I  believe  his 
heart  was  as  hard  as  a  little  hickory-nut.  I 
know  that  he  distrusted  every  member  of  the 
company,  and  hated  the  most  of  them.  He 
learned  to  care  little  for  Mr.  Crook,  who 
certainly  was  proud  of  him,  and  very  kind  to 
him.  He  regretted  nothing  in  the  past,  looked 
forward  to  nothing  in  the  future,  formed  no 
attachments;  lived  only  in  his  art,  and  was 
vain  of  that.  He  was  selfish,  cynical,  vulgar, 
but  he  had  the  physical  beauty  of  one  of 
Titian's  cloud-children  and  the  face  of  an 
angel  that  lived  close  to  death. 

Mr.  Crook  entered  presently  to  summon 
Young  Romeo ;  the  Flying-Men  were  about  to 
sport  in  mid-air  like  veritable  winged  crea 
tures.  I  was  invited  to  witness  the  spectacle 
from  a  seat  my  friend  had  reserved  for  me  in 
the  amphitheatre.  Don't  imagine  that  any 
accident  befell  any  one;  everything  went  off 
magically,  and  a  slip  seemed  out  of  the  range 
of  possibility.  The  two  gymnasts,  the  "Zin- 
garelli  Brothers, ' '  whose  names  were  in  reality 
Bill  Jones  and  Sam  Hawkins,  climbed  into  the 
trapeze  that  swung  high  up  in  the  peak  of  the 
tent,  and  there  they  arched  their  insteps  in 
237 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

spasmodic  ecstasy  and  rubbed  their  feet  to 
gether  as  flies  do,  and,  as  if  it  were  the  most 
delightful  situation  in  the  world,  all  the  while 
playing  with  their  handkerchiefs  in  a  very 
becoming  and  unconscious  manner. 

Young  Romeo  was  placed  in  a  noose  and 
hoisted  into  the  arms  of  one  of  the  "Zingar- 
elli,"  where  he  looked  like  a  babe  from  the 
cradle.  The  game  commenced:  Romeo  was 
rolled  into  a  ball  about  half  his  natural  size, 
and  tossed  lightly  from  Jones  to  Hawkins  as 
they  sat  in  their  respective  perches;  then  he 
was  unrolled  and  swung  over  by  his  hands 
and  by  his  feet,  flying  from  one  trapeze  to 
another  and  back  again  as  if  he  had  been  a 
bird;  he  was  thrown  into  the  air  and  caught 
between  the  feet  of  Bill  Jones,  who  lightly 
kicked  him  over  to  the  feet  of  Hawkins,  where 
he  hung  upside  down  much  longer  than  it  is 
pleasant  to  think  of.  A  double  flight  followed : 
Hawkins  dropped  from  the  upper  trapeze  into 
the  arms  of  Jones  and  hung  there,  reversed: 
Romeo  climbing  into  a  baby  swing  above  the 
heads  of  both,  let  go  his  hold,  fell  past  the 
fellow  in  the  first  trapeze,  and  was  grasped 
by  the  ankles  just  as  his  brains  should  have 
been  dashed  out,  but  were  not ;  for  Hawkins, 
who  was'still  inverted,  and  had  his  feet  hooked 

238 


A   SAWDUST   FAIRY 

over  the  feet  of  Jones  in  the  trapeze,  seemed 
accidentally  to  have  interposed,  an  humble  in 
strument  in  the  hands  of  Providence  and  silk 
tights,  to  save  the  life  of  this  flying  boy,  still 
sighing  for  more  worlds  to  conquer. 

There  was  nothing  after  that  but  rapturous 
applause  and  a  speedy  descent  into  the  arena, 
where  the  Flying  Men  folded  their  invisible 
wings  and  fled  from  the  gaze  of  the  enthusias 
tic  audience. 

A  farce  closed  the  bill  of  the  evening— the 
stupidest  of  all  farces,  wherein  supers  played 
women  so  badly  that  any  woman  would  scorn 
to  be  the  mother  of  such  supers.  The  pony 
who  discharged  a  pistol  with  his  mouth,  stand 
ing  on  a  box  with  one  foot  in  the  air,  and  who 
afterward  stole  a  handkerchief  with  the  very 
look  of  a  pickpocket  in  his  eye,  had  more  dra 
matic  talent  than  was  evidenced  by  the  com 
bined  company. 

Romeo  and  I  ended  our  interview  while  he 
was  putting  off  his  fairy  dress  and  getting 
back  into  an  ill-fitting  suit  of  clothes.  I  won 
dered  how  he  felt  in  them :  he  seemed  to  have 
very  little  feeling  in  any  state,  not  excepting 
the  state  of  nature,  for  he  acted  as  if  Ije  were 
utterly  unconscious  that  it  was  thus  God  made 
him  and  all  the  world  besides,  and  that  we 
239 


THE   ISLAND   OP    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

think  it  a  very  shameful  condition,  and  are 
therefore  in  it  as  seldom  as  possible. 

Romeo  asked  me  whither  I  was  bound;  he 
also  was  to  leave  immediately,  and  he  confided 
to  me  the  one  secret  of  his  life— namely,  that 
he  would  gladly  escape  from  his  glittering 
thraldom— I  am  not  quoting  his  language,  but 
that  is  how  it  sounded  to  me  then— and  live  a 
nobler  and  a  purer  life— were  it  but  possible. 
I  believed  that  if  his  hard  little  heart  could  only 
be  cracked  open,  a  very  good  kernel  would  be 
found  within.  Could  I  not  save  this  soul  at 
once,  in  season,  before  it  had  sunk  deeper  into 
the  miry  clay  that  besmeared  it?  I  believed 
I  could.  I  freely  offered  him  my  services,  and, 
to  my  surprise,  my  offer  was  eagerly  accepted. 
He  seemed  indeed  weary  of  his  life.  That  very 
night  he  would  have  to  sleep  on  a  wagonload 
of  canvas,  and  be  slowly  dragged  on  to  the 
next  town.  Night  after  night  this  had  been 
his  portion;  in  all  countries,  in  all  weathers, 
he  had  rolled  himself  in  bunting  and  rocked 
in  that  lumbering  cradle  through  dust,  through 
mire,  under  rain  or  starlight,  up  hill,  down 
dale,  from  town  to  town,  never  resting— for  his 
hardest  work  was  when  they  came  to  a  halt. 
Sometimes  he  lay  awake  under  the  midnight 
moon  and  saw  the  country-houses  dark  and 

240 


A   SAWDUST    FAIRY 

still,  and  a  longing  seized  him  to  seek  a  home 
somewhere  in  the  world  and  live  as  other  boys 
lived :  once  or  twice  he  had  made  friends,  and 
when  he  spoke  of  these  episodes  in  his  young 
career  his  voice  seemed  to  soften  a  little,  though 
it  was  a  hard,  harsh  voice  for  a  child.  I  might 
do  something  for  him;  I  might  help  him  to 
escape  if  he  desired  to ;  he  would  meet  me  at 
the  edge  of  the  town,  and  we  would  go  on  to 
gether.  It  looked  easy  enough,  and  I  saw 
nothing  very  wrong  in  it. 

The  company  would  not  miss  him  till  day 
break  ;  by  that  time  he  would  be  miles  away, 
and  they  would  never  be  the  wiser.  My 
friend,  Mr.  Crook,  had  no  real  claim  on  him ; 
there  were  hundreds  of  boys  anxious  to  risk 
their  lives  in  the  same  profession,  who  would 
surely  come  to  it  sooner  or  later ;  he  had  only 
to  raise  his  finger  and  a  dozen  would  respond 
in  any  town.  Young  Romeo  had  surely  served 
his  time;  why  should  he  not  be  free? 

With  astonishingly  long  sight  for  such 
young  eyes,  Romeo  had  looked  at  the  case  in 
all  its  bearings.  When  he  hailed  our  coach 
it  would  be  necessary  for  him  to  have  the  price 
of  the  passage  with  him,  otherwise  the  driver 
would  at  once  suspect  him  of  being  a  run 
away,  and  treat  him  accordingly.  He  was 
241 


THE   ISLAND   OP   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

quite  safe  from  recognition.  I  hardly  knew 
him  when  he  got  his  paint  off  and  his  clothes 
on :  he  was  then  merely  a  dwarf,  spotted  with 
rather  large  freckles,  but  he  was  worth  saving 
if  he  sought  salvation ;  probably  any  sort  of  a 
fellow  is  under  such  aggravating  circum 
stances. 

I  willingly  advanced  thrice  the  price  of  his 
passage,  and  we  parted  with  a  compact  that 
sounded  like  a  line  in  a  melodrama,  but  I 
didn't  care  for  that— "Alone,  in  the  highway, 
when  the  clock  strikes  one,  and  so  farewell !  ' ' 
* '  So  long,  boss, ' '  said  the  fairy  of  the  sawdust ; 
and  with  that  I  turned  to  bid  Mr.  Crook  good 
night,  and  then  followed  the  mob  back  into 
town. 

It  was  only  ten  p.  M.  The  circus  never  gives 
a  long  bill  to  these  interior  people.  They  are 
used  to  early  rising,  and  of  course  retire  be 
times.  I  tipped  back  against  the  wall  of  the 
public  room  in  the  hotel,  dreaming  over  my 
cigar  and  impatiently  awaiting  the  departure 
of  the  coach.  Everybody  talked  in  a  low 
drowsy  voice ;  nearly  everybody  talked  of  the 
circus,  and  not  one  of  all  who  spoke  of  that 
but  at  once  introduced  the  sawdust  fairy  with 
a  flourish  that  delighted  me,  for  I  had  al 
ready  begun  to  feel  that  in  a  measure  he 

242 


A   SAWDUST   PAIRY 

belonged  to  me,  and  you  know  one  likes  to 
get  praise  by  proxy. 

Twelve  o  'clock  came  at  last.  The  coach  had 
been  standing  a  full  half  hour  at  the  door: 
there  was  a  jingling  of  harness,  a  champing  of 
bits,  a  snorting  of  horses,  and  a  lashing  on  of 
baggage  that  called  every  wakeful  person  on 
to  the  veranda  to  witness  the  preparations  for 
departure.  I  was  glad  to  be  left  alone,  for  I 
half  believed  that  I  must  have  a  guilty  look: 
I  certainly  felt  quite  awkward.  When  we 
started  I  sank  into  a  dark  corner  on  the  back 
seat,  and  wondered  how  long  it  would  be  be 
fore  the  circus-boy  would  join  me.  We  hur 
ried  down  the  dark,  still  street  with  unaccount 
able  clatter.  A  fragment  of  the  old  moon  had 
risen,  and  a  faint,  ghastly  light  suffused  the 
landscape.  We  rocked  from  side  to  side :  the 
horses,  scenting  the  night  air,  pranced  gaily, 
and  were  nothing  loath  to  quit  the  road  and 
take  the  first  fence  they  came  to.  When  we 
passed  the  circus-lot,  lo!  not  a  vestige  of  the 
pageant  remained;  the  tent,  the  mammoth 
vans,  everything  had  disappeared;  only  the 
faint  gray  circle  of  the  sawdust  shone  dimly 
in  the  thin  moonlight,  and  it  all  seemed  like 
a  dream. 

An  hour  passed :    One  after  another  of  the 

243 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

passengers  fell  asleep.  We  were  not  hailed 
by  any  voice;  the  night  without  was  still  as 
death.  I  listened  fretfully  to  the  heavy 
breathing  of  my  companions:  I  heard  the 
driver  chirrup  to  his  horses  and  wondered  at 
the  necessity  of  speeding  them  just  then.  We 
might  pass  Young  Romeo  in  the  uncertain 
moonlight;  we  might  fail  to  catch  his  voice, 
and  what  would  become  of  him  in  that  case? 
An  hour  and  a  half,  two  hours,  went  by,  and 
we  were  still  jogging  on  over  the  shadowless 
foot-hills  with  no  incident  to  break  the  monot 
ony  of  the  midnight  journey.  It  was  now  evi 
dent  that  Romeo  had  missed  us ;  probably  his 
premeditated  flight  had  been  discovered  and 
he  was  watched.  It  would  be  ill  for  him  in 
such  a  case ;  far  better  had  he  never  sought  to 
escape.  I  regretted  that  I  had  encouraged  him 
from  bad  to  worse,  and  I  dreaded  to  think 
of  the  consequences.  Having  given  over  all 
hope  of  picking  him  up  on  the  road,  I  finished 
the  night  in  an  unpleasant  dream,  and  woke 
long  before  breakfast-time  in  a  little  town  at 
the  foot  of  the  mountains. 

Several  days  passed :    Again  I  was  staging 
from  place  to  place  in  a  vagabond  summer  va 
cation.     It  made  little  odds  to  me  whither  I 
went ;  I  might,  had  I  chosen,  have  followed  up 
244 


A   SAWDUST   FAIRY 

the  glaring  placards  of  the  circus  that  were 
strewn  broadcast  over  the  country.  One  night 
in  this  town  a  week  previous,  two  nights  in 
the  next,  and  then  three  villages  on  the  main 
road  with  a  night  each— such  was  the  progress 
of  the  caravan. 

At  Sacramento  I  found  the  gorgeous  gal 
lery  of  "sheets"  and  "streamers"  displayed 
in  every  convenient  quarter  of  the  city.  The 
benefit  of  Young  Eomeo  was  placarded  for  the 
night  previous,  which  had  closed  the  brief  sea 
son  in  the  capital.  So  Romeo  was  still  with 
the  company;  the  fact  relieved  my  mind  of 
something  that  was  beginning  to  prey  upon 
me  like  the  shadow  of  guilt;  at  any  rate,  I 
rejoiced  to  think  that  the  boy  was  not  adrift 
in  the  world  without  home  or  friends,  possibly 
without  food.  At  two  P.  M.  that  very  day  I 
took  the  river-boat  for  San  Francisco.  The 
afternoon  was  glorious,  and  as  we  paddled 
down  the  winding  stream  with  its  low,  flat 
banks,  its  small  cabin  homes  hoisted  on  stilts 
above  the  flood-mark,  its  scanty  groves  of  trees 
and  the  occasional  meadows  of  tall  tule,  every 
passenger  remained  on  deck  to  enjoy,  and  be 
come  a  part  of  the  pastoral  picture. 

We  slackened  speed  as  we  came  to  the  sharp 
bends  in  the  river;  stopped  now  and  again  at 
245 


THE    ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

infinitely  small  landings,  each  having  a  great 
name,  and  a  future  greater  than  can  easily  be 
imagined  unless  you  have  lived  in  California 
and  had  some  practice  in  that  line.  Schooners 
with  big  flat  sails  were  working  their  way  up 
the  stream,  with  about  three  men  and  a  dog 
in  each.  Our  steamer  crowded  these  craft 
against  the  muddy  banks  and  rolled  a  round 
wave  of  yellow,  creamy  water  quite  up  to  their 
deck-line  as  we  passed  them;  they  lurched 
heavily,  three  men  and  a  dog  growled  in  con 
cert,  and  we  splashed  on  toward  the  next  land 
ing. 

Swinging  up  to  a  respectable  dock  connected 
with  a  small  village  by  a  bridge  a  mile  in 
length,  stretching  over  a  dank  marsh,  we  threw 
out  our  bow  and  stern  lines  and  rested  for  a 
moment.  A  dozen  men  and  boys  were  waiting 
to  do  the  honors  of  the  settlement;  a  smaller 
number  might  easily  have  accomplished  all 
that  was  expected  of  so  unpromising  a  place; 
but  unpromising  places  are  sometimes  hos 
pitable  even  to  an  unnecessary  degree.  There 
was  a  large  tent  on  the  edge  of  the  village. 
I  saw  it  a  mile  away,  but  didn't  care  to  ac 
knowledge  it  till  I  was  obliged  to.  That  hour 
was  now  come.  Evidently  Crook's  circus  was 
at  Peking,  or  whatever  the  name  of  the  village 

246 


A   SAWDUST    FAIRY 

was:  it  was  diminutive  enough  to  have  called 
itself  Peking. 

I  at  first  concluded  to  debark  at  Peking  and 
rescue  Young  Romeo  boldly  and  by  daylight ; 
but  something  said  to  me,  " Don't  meddle  with 
other  people's  affairs;  let  well  enough  alone/' 
and  other  familiar  words  that  reminded  me  of 
the  copy-book.  I  hate  proverbs  and  maxims 
—they  always  sound  personal— but  I  resolved 
to  sacrifice  my  feelings  rather  than  any  por 
tion  of  my  through  ticket  and  I  retained  my 
seat  by  the  guard,  calmly  surveying  the  citi 
zens  of  Peking,  who  were  staring  at  us  with 
embarrassing  steadfastness. 

In  a  moment  we  were  off  again,  and  in  the 
last  half  of  that  moment  some  one  on  the 
dock  attracted  my  attention.  A  small  boy  in 
ill-fitting  garments,  whose  hat  was  on  the  back 
of  his  head  and  whose  lips  were  glued  to  the 
stump  of  a  cigar:  he  was  the  embodiment  of 
saucy  defiance,  and  when  he  caught  my  eye  he 
put  a  thumb  to  the  tip  of  his  nose  and  wagged 
his  fingers  like  the  claws  on  one  side  of  a  crab. 
Would  you  believe  it?— it  was  Young  Romeo  ! 
I  wonder  how  I  came  to  know  him  by  daylight. 

A  year  later  I  was  vegetating  in  Honolulu 
sunshine.  Twilight  is  the  hour  when  the  semi- 

247 


THE   ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL    DELIGHTS 

tropical  inhabitants  of  that  pretty  hamlet  go 
out  like  fire-worshippers  to  see  the  last  sun 
beam  pale  over  the  delicious  summer  sea.  I 
had  come  out  of  my  oven,  and  was  inhaling  the 
light  breeze  that  springs  up  at  sunset,  when  a 
voice  accosted  me — a  weak  and  therefore  a  re 
spectful  voice,  with  a  whine  in  it.  I  turned 
suddenly  as  one  is  apt  to  when  a  revery  is 
broken  in  upon,  and  there  stood  a  piteous  fel 
low,  thin,  haggard,  sickly-looking,  and  alto 
gether  a  melancholy  spectacle. 

' '  Well,  what  can  I  do  for  you  ? ' '  said  I  in  a 
tone  which  was  hardly  encouraging. 

' '  You  can  give  me  a  lift,  sir, ' '  said  the  voice. 
* '  I  wants  to  git  to  Australia  to  join  the  com 
pany  :  they 's  left  me  here  in  the  hospital,  but 
if  I  git  to  them  I's  all  right  agin." 

It  was  Young  Romeo's  third  and  last  ap 
pearance  on  this  stage.  His  old  company  was 
disbanded  and  Mr.  Crook  had  gone  back  to 
Astley's  or  some  other  world  with  the  de 
termination  to  conquer  or  expire.  Young 
Romeo  had  joined  a  troupe  drawn  from  all 
sources,  and,  I  fear,  but  badly  regulated.  The 
company  started  to  visit  Honolulu,  Australia, 
China,  India,  and  so  on,  till  they  should  find 
themselves  cornered  somewhere,  and  there 
forced  to  disband  and  work  their  several  ways 
248 


A    SAWDUST    FAIRY 

home  again  as  best  they  might.  At  Honolulu 
they  did  well.  The  natives  are  passionately 
fond  of  horses  and  riders :  I  believe  they  would 
sell  their  soul  for  a  front  seat  in  a  circus,  close 
to  the  sawdust. 

Romeo,  the  pet  of  every  public  it  had  been 
his  lot  to  appear  before,  fell  one  night  from 
the  trapeze  and  dislocated  his  arm.  He  was 
at  once  taken  to  the  hospital,  and  received 
some  attentions  from  admirers  whose  senti 
ment  was  touched  by  the  romantic  story  of  his 
life,  which  was  just  then  freely  circulated.  He 
mended  rapidly,  but  being  forced  to  his  old 
work  too  soon,  the  arm  was  again  disabled: 
after  this  second  misfortune  there  was  every 
prospect  of  a  permanent  weakness,  and  as  soon 
as  the  fact  was  discovered  his  comrades,  whose 
departure  had  been  delayed  a  few  days  in 
hope  of  a  more  promising  verdict,  made  sail 
at  once,  and  left  him  alone  and  penniless 
among  strangers  in  a  strange  land. 

He  was  the  picture  of  abject  misery,  wasted 
by  disease  and  dissipation,  his  spirit  gone  with 
the  glitter  of  the  spangles  and  the  incense  of 
applause ;  there  was  not  one  line  in  his  whole 
body  that  answered  to  the  image  of  the  Romeo 
I  had  seen  for  the  first  time  that  night  in  Hor- 
nitos.  Now  he  was  indeed  a  fit  subject  for 

249 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

charity.  The  captain  of  a  vessel  bound  for 
Melbourne  had  promised  to  take  him  in  the 
steerage  for  a  few  dollars,  and  this  sum  he 
had  nearly  raised.  I  had  now  an  opportunity 
of  doing  him  a  real  service,  and  I  was  only 
too  glad  to  do  it. 

Young  Romeo  and  I  had  our  talks,  our 
walks,  our  little  times  together  in  the  course 
of  the  next  three  days.  I  could  keep  him  in 
good  humor  and  cigars  for  so  long  at  least ;  it 
seemed  a  pity  that  one  who  had  given  a  delight 
to  thousands  should  be  reduced  to  beggary. 

He  filled  up  for  me  the  breaks  in  his  pitiful 
history ;  even  showed  some  little  signs  of  feel 
ing  when  he  spoke  of  the  past  and  of  Mr. 
Crook's  kindness  to  him.  Neither  of  us  re 
ferred  in  any  way  to  the  affair  at  Hornitos ;  it 
was  as  if  it  had  never  happened,  and  I  wished 
that  it  never  had.  On  the  fourth  day  Romeo 
set  sail.  He  was  cheerful  and  hopeful;  said 
he  would  get  some  one  to  write  to  me  when  he 
reached  Melbourne— he  could  not  write  well 
enough  to  think  of  doing  it  himself.  I  alone 
saw  him  off;  everybody  seemed  to  have  lost 
interest  in  him,  poor  boy !  One  or  two  young 
sters  who  chanced  upon  the  dock  as  the  vessel 
swung  into  the  stream  recognized  and  hailed 
him,  but  he  gave  no  sign  of  emotion  of  any 
250 


A   SAWDUST   FAIRY 


sort  whatever,  he  was  quite  too  world-weary 
for  that,  and  so  he  went  out  to  sea. 

Poor  little  fellow !  After  waiting  a  reason 
able  time  with  the  hope  of  hearing  from  him, 
I  gave  him  up  for  good,  with  a  kind  of  tender 
regret  that  never  left  me  after  I  saw  him  last. 
I  was  glad  that  I  had  thought  kindly  of  him 
through  all  the  phases  of  our  friendship— 
though  it  was  hardly  equal  enough  to  be  called 
that— for  the  news  came  after  a  while  that 
the  boy  had  been  swept  overboard  in  a  heavy 
gale  off  the  coast  of  Australia,  and  was  never 
seen  again. 


251 


KANE-ALOHA 


G 


KANE-ALOHA 


OD  made  me!  He  made  me  long  before 
the  confiscated,  tailor-made  Hawaiian  had  be 
gun  to  crease  his  trousers,  for  the  very  good 
reason  that  in  those  days  there  were  no  trous 
ers  to  crease.  Yet  it  was  not  until  the  Mission 
ary  preacher  had  pronounced  the  Doxology 
and  the  members  of  his  dusky  flock  had  begun 
to  turn  their  faces  toward  the  church  door, 
and  the  glory  of  land  and  sea  ablaze  beyond  it, 
that  I  found  myself  within  speaking  distance 
of  Kane- Aloha. 

I  had  not  seen  him  approach  the  church  door 
with  the  others,  his  shoes  in  his  hands ;  I  had 
not  noticed  him  squatting  there  in  the  porch, 
while  with  infinite  trouble  and  not  a  little 

4 

clucking  of  his  tongue  in  the  roof  of  his  mouth 
for  sheer  vexation,  he  forced  his  bare  feet  into 
his  shop-made  shoes  and  walked  painfully  up 
the  aisle  and  into  the  pew;  there  the  shoes 
were  at  once  removed  and  placed  respectfully 
on  the  seat  beside  him.  It  is  hard  indeed  to 
tread  the  straight  and  narrow  path  encased  in 
unaccustomed  shoe-leather,  even  when  that 
path  is  no  longer  than  from  the  threshold  of 
the  church  to  the  gate  of  the  pew.  Had  he, 

255 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

had  any  of  his  fellows  up  at  the  Mission  school, 
ever  asked  himself  if  it  was  in  deed  and  in 
truth  following  in  the  footsteps  of  our  Lord 
and  Master  to  enter  a  meeting  house  in  boots 
two  sizes  too  small  for  him?  and  then  remove 
them  in  hot  haste  in  order  that  he  might  doze 
in  comfort  up  to  the  administration  of  the 
Sacrament  of  the  Collection,  and  so  on  to  the 
Grand  Amen? 

Is  it  not  written  in  the  Good  Book,  ' '  Put  off 
thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet?"  Well  they  did 
it.  They  put  them  on  to  go  down  the  aisle 
in,  but  at  the  church  door,  or  rather  on  the 
lawn  in  front  of  the  church  they  removed  them 
and  these  instruments  of  torture  were  folded 
in  a  handkerchief  or  swung  by  the  strings  over 
the  arm  or  the  shoulder  or  even  about  the  neck, 
and  borne  home  in  triumph  to  be  deposited 
reverently  in  a  calabash  together  with  all  other 
Sabbath  finery. 

I  had  first  seen  this  Kane- Aloha  in  the  swim 
ming  pool  above  Hilo.  The  stream  that  flows 
down  from  the  mountain  over  a  bed  of  lava 
as  smooth  as  glass,  there  leaps  from  the  brink 
of  a  cliff  and  buries  itself  in  foam  at  the  top 
of  a  deep  pool  half  a  hundred  feet  below.  It 
was  like  pouring  cream  from  the  lip  of  a  mug 
the  way  that  stream  slid  off  into  the  air,  and 
256 


KANE- ALOHA 

'twas  whipped  cream  for  sure  when  it  struck 
the  rim  of  the  pool. 

The  jungle  ran  down  to  the  edge  of  the 
stream  and  reached  over  it  with  gently  sway 
ing  boughs  that  were  never  for  a  moment  at 
rest.  Zephyrs  played  pranks  there  and  the  lit 
tle  waves  that  sometimes  leaped  for  very  joy 
caught  the  tips  of  pendulous  vines  and  tugged 
at  them  prettily  as  if  they  would  carry  them 
down  into  the  depths,  but  all  in  play ;  the  vines 
yielded  for  a  moment  only  and  then  swung 
back  with  haughty  grace,  while  all  the  world 
of  little  leaves  shook  with  the  lightest  laughter, 
and  its  game  of  life  went  on. 

That  was  my  haunt  every  afternoon  so  long 
as  I  tarried  in  Hilo.  Every  day,  at  a  certain 
hour  of  the  day,  I  went  thither,  rain  or  shine. 
Down  yonder  we  didn't  heed  the  showers  any 
more  than  we  heeded  sunshine ;  each  was  a  joy 
in  itself  and  heightened  the  joy  of  the  other; 
for  if  the  rain  wet  us  the  sun  dried  us,  if  the 
sun  heated  us  the  showers  cooled  us,  and  so 
between  alternating  shine  and  shower  every 
thing  was  just  as  it  should  be  and  altogether 
lovely. 

I  had  been  a  guest  at  the  Mission  House  a 
week  or  more  when,  one  day  as  I  was  start 
ing  for  a  stroll,  the  Missionary  lady  of  the 
257 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

house  said  to  me,  rather  abruptly  I  thought  at 
the  time,  "Where  do  you  go  every  afternoon 
about  this  hour?"  She  was  perchance  and 
perforce  my  hostess;  where  there  is  no  Inn 
with  accommodation  for  man  and  beast,  both, 
in  a  certain  sense,  become  objects  of  charity. 
Where  there  is  but  one  house  in  a  village  ca 
pable  of  offering  a  stranger  hospitality,  worthy 
of  the  name,  the  way  faring  man  though  a  fool, 
must  willy-nilly,  accept  it;  therefore,  my 
chance-hostess  became  of  necessity  my  enter 
tainer  and  as  such  she  no  doubt  thought  she 
had  the  right  to  enquire  into  the  conduct  of 
my  life,  or  at  least  the  conduct  of  such  portion 
of  it  as  I  was  passing  under  her  hallowed  roof- 
tree. 

"Where  do  you  go  every  afternoon  about 
this  hour?"  said  she.  "I  go  to  the  pool  in 
the  river  to  see  the  natives  swim,"  replied  I. 
In  the  wide  world  of  waters  there  are  no  bet 
ter  swimmers  than  were  those  I  went  to  see,  to 
admire,  to  envy  and  even  to  worship  with  all 
my  eyes. 

The  lips  of  my  hostess  pursed  with  the 
prunes  and  prisms  of  propriety.  Persimmons, 
thought  I,  have  not  yet  ripened  in  the  Vine 
yard  of  the  Lord  and  I  hardened  my  heart  as 
I  turned  from  her  and  went  my  way,  feeling 
258 


KANE-ALOHA 

that  I  had  perhaps  given  pain  to  one  who  had 
shown  me  nothing  but  kindness. 

There  was  a  natural  throne  set  upon  a  rock 
above  the  river;  this  was  my  haunt  where  the 
wild  cataract  leaped  in  glory  and  the  waters 
sang  themselves  hoarse  at  my  feet.  There  the 
natives  in  the  full  splendor  of  adolescence  were 
gathered;  there  youths  and  maidens,  that 
might  have  adorned  an  Arcadian  landscape, 
rejoiced  together ;  and  there,  laying  aside  such 
artifices  as  civilization  and  the  new  dispensa 
tion  had  forced  upon  them,  returned  again  to 
that  state  of  Nature  which  is  nothing  if  not 
innocence  exemplified. 

With  what  rapture  my  beauty  loving  eyes 
fed  upon  this  animated  scene.  Those  children 
of  the  wilds  were  as  modest  in  deportment  as  if 
their  souls  were  guiltless  of  the  knowledge  of 
sin. 

To  be  modest  is  to  be  utterly  unconscious  of 
one 's  self ;  to  admire  beauty  for  its  sole  sake ; 
to  forget  one's  own  perfections  or  imperfec 
tions  in  admiration  of  all  that  is  perfect  in 
another ;  to  be  unconscious  of  the  fact  that  one 
is  clad  or  unclad  and  not  to  care  in  either  case, 
for  all  beauty  is  appealing  and  appealing 
beauty  calls  only  for  that  which  is  noblest  in 
the  mind ;  there  is  nothing  within  the  range  of 
259 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

its  clear  vision  that  verges  in  the  slightest  de 
gree  upon  carnality.  Carnality  and  clothes 
both  begin  with  C  and  each  is  the  product  of 
the  sweat-shop. 

What  went  I  forth  for  to  see,  0 !  Prudence ! 
To  see  the  bathers  bathing  in  their  bath,  as 
follows :  Resigning  themselves  to  the  resistless 
current,  their  folded  feet  tapering  like  arrow 
heads,  their  hands  clasped  high  above  them, 
they  stretched  their  lithe  length  in  ecstasy  as 
they  sank  into  the  curved  crest  of  the  cataract 
and  shot  down  with  the  descending  flood,  a 
flight  of  shadows  over  the  shimmering  surface 
of  a  screen.  The  wave  clothed  them  in  its  lim 
pid  garment;  they  were  as  spirits  in  their 
native  elements,  a  denser  part  of  it  fashioned 
in  the  image  of  their  maker,  that  anon  dis 
solved,  as  it  were,  only  to  flash  again  in  spurts 
of  phosphorescent  flame  adown  that  crystal 
column;  naiads  they  were,  and  nereides,  and 
water  sprites,  and  angels  in  liquid  amber,  as 
they  vanished  into  the  depths  below.  There 
they  were  not  lost,  although  invisible ;  not  lost, 
but  gone  before  you  knew  it,  and  away  down 
yonder  where  the  river  broadens  they  were 
borne  again  out  of  the  bosom  of  the  flood ;  and 
the  greatest  of  these  was  Kane- Aloha !— reborn 
in  that  bath  of  beauty. 
260 


KANE- ALOHA 

Friendship  ripens  quickly  in  the  tropical 
sunshine  and  it  was  not  many  days  before  the 
young  native  and  I  were  inseparable.  He  was 
profoundly  interested  in  my  career  and  had 
suggested  that  we  unite  our  fortunes  and  brave 
the  world  together;  but  cruel  fate  decreed 
otherwise,  as  you  shall  presently  see. 

It  seems  that  I  was  young,  perchance  boy 
ish;  and  that  I  had  a  chaperone  who  would 
gladly  have  heard  from  these  lips  the  reverent 
words  ' '  Not  my  will  but  Thine  be  done. ' '  He 
never  heard  them  nor  anything  in  the  least  re 
sembling  them.  My  chaperone,  growing  weary 
of  Hilo  and  all  its  hallowed  haunts,  announced 
one  day  that  we  would  saddle  our  beasts  and 
take  to  the  trail  on  the  following  Monday ;  it 
was,  therefore,  necessary  that  the  services  of  a 
path  finder  be  secured  at  once. 

My  first  thought  was  of  Kane- Aloha.  Surely 
he  was  guide,  philosopher  and  friend  in  one ; 
all  savages  are  philosophers  and  there  are  few 
who  are  not  guides  and  friends  as  well;  but 
none  of  them  could  approach  Kane-Aloha, 
especially  since  he  had  such  a  start  in  my 
affections. 

Of  course  my  chaperone  at  first  demurred 
after  the  manner  of  chaperones.  He  deplored 
the  youth  of  the  lad  and  his  inexperience,  as 
261 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

if  experience  were  any  better  than  instinct, 
or  half  as  good. 

With  cunning  beyond  my  years  I  hinted  that 
the  services  of  Kane- Aloha  might  be  obtained 
at  half  price,  he  being  but  a  child. 

Child  of  Nature  he  certainly  was  for  he 
would  have  cast  himself  upon  the  bargain 
counter  with  joy  if  I  had  merely  suggested 
such  a  thing.  I  did  suggest  it ;  the  heart  and 
the  pocket  of  the  chaperone  were  touched,  the 
latter  very  lightly,  and  my  hero  was  mine  for 
the  asking. 

Now  that  is  why  I  waited  in  the  Church 
after  Doxology  so  as  to  get  within  speaking 
distance  of  Kane-Aloha.  I  wanted  to  make 
sure  that  he  would  be  at  the  old  swimming 
hole  that  afternoon,  the  last  I  was  likely  to 
pass  there  for  many  a  year  to  come. 

Well,  we  were  off  the  next  morning  bright 
and  early.  A  procession  like  a  vill'age  funeral 
followed  us  to  the  garden-gate  where  our  cara 
van  was  in  waiting.  The  adieus  were  tremu 
lously  intoned,  for  it  is  not  every  day  that  the 
emotions  are  stirred  in  the  quiet  life  at  the 
Mission.  I  was  briefly  exhorted  to  remember 
my  Creator  in  the  days  of  my  youth  for  the 
time  might  come  when  I'd  lose  my  memory; 
and  the  chaperone  was  assured  that  if  our 
262 


KANE-ALOHA 

separation  was  to  be  of  any  considerable  length 
or  even  final  there  was  still  the  immortal  hope 
that  we  might  meet  in  another  and  a  better 
place.  To  which  the  chaperone  responded 
gaily  "Oh  yes!  You'll  be  down  to  Honolulu 
one  of  these  days. ' '  Upon  which  odious  com 
parison  we  buried  our  spurs  in  our  horses' 
flanks,  as  Cavaliers  are  apt  to  do,  and  dashed 
into  the  perfumed  distance.  We  had  ridden 
an  hour  or  two  in  comparative  silence,  for 
there  was  nothing  in  particular  to  talk  about, 
when  Kane-Aloha  suddenly  hurried  away 
from  us  and  disappeared  in  the  bush.  I  was 
stricken  with  fear  and  trembling.  What  if  he 
had  deserted  us?  What  if  he  had  played  me 
false  and  shaken  my  faith  in  his  whole  de 
lightful  tribe?  I  knew  the  eyes  of  the  chap 
erone  were  fixed  upon  me  and  not  in  the 
friendliest  way.  I  felt  myself  growing  pale 
and  was  beginning  to  be  very  miserable  in 
deed  when,  all  at  once  out  of  a  clear  sky  came 
the  long  plaintive  wail  of  the  great  emotional 
mother  of  Hawaiian  men  and  I  took  heart  of 
grace.  I  knew  the  significance  of  that  wail. 
It  was  like  the  voice  of  the  mosquito  a  million 
times  multiplied  in  the  deep  recesses  of  a  mega 
phone.  It  meant  in  this  case  that  Kane- Aloha 
had  come  unto  his  own ;  that  he  was  now  being 
263 


THE    ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL    DELIGHTS 

hailed  with  joy  by  the  mother  who  bore  him 
and  who  had  not  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
him  for  some  days— he  being  a  resident  of 
Hilo.  Some  one  lifted  up  a  second  voice  in  a 
top  note  that  was  as  piercing  as  prolonged. 
Another  and  another  voice  was  raised;  evi 
dently  the  entire  family  had  burst  into  song 
and  was  now  triumphantly  chanting  his 
praises. 

I  said  as  much  to  the  chaperone  who  had 
little  faith  in  my  intuitions.  I  said  he  is 
greeting  his  kinfolk.  In  a  moment  there  will 
be  silence  during  which  they  will  break  bread 
fruit  together  and  quaff  the  delicious  milk  of 
the  infantile  cocoanut.  Their  voices  will  then 
rise  in  the  chorus  of  despair  and  he  will  take 
his  leave  amidst  tears  and  lamentations.  It 
was  even  so.  Out  of  the  wilderness  emerged 
Kane-Aloha  and  with  him  a  companion  old 
enough  to  be  his  father,  which  was  fortunate 
for  all  parties  concerned  since  that  was  just 
exactly  what  he  happened  to  be. 

In  the  cheerfulest  manner  Kane-Aloha  an 
nounced  that  his  parent  would  accompany  us 
on  our  journey  since  it  was  not  possible  for 
him  to  separate  himself  from  his  son  for  love 
of  him.  The  chaperone  protested.  The  son 
had  been  engaged  for  half-price,  being  as  it 
264 


KANE-ALOHA 

were  a  child.  No  father  was  mentioned  in  the 
bond.  Two  were  not  needed  to  guide  us  in 
trackless  wilds ;  moreover  there  was  not  money 
enough  to  go  around  and  that  settled  it. 

Kane- Aloha  spoke,  he  having  the  only  Eng 
lish  at  the  service  of  the  family  and  a  little  of 
it  went  a  long  way.  Formally  presenting  his 
well-horsed  companion,  he  said:  "This  man, 
she  my  father,  she  love  me  too  much,  I  love  her 
too  much;  she  take  my  money;  I  not  want 
money ;  we  all  go  together ;  you  two ;  me  two ; 
one  price ;  half  price ;  that 's  all  right ! ' ' 

The  matter  was  no  longer  debatable;  the 
chaperone  rode  away  with  the  father ;  the  son 
and  I  lingered  a  little,  but  made  a  feint  of 
trying  to  keep  up  with  our  leaders.  They  were 
a  solemn  pair ;  we  were  not  to  be  named  in  the 
same  day  with  them,  if  we  could  help  it,  and 
so  it  came  to  pass  that  before  many  hours  we 
had  somehow  become  separated  and  were  not 
in  the  least  alarmed.  Our  trust  in  Providence 
and  in  each  other  increased  as  the  day  waned 
and  we  found  ourselves  alone  in  the  world. 
There  were  no  sign  posts  on  that  road  pointing 
the  way  to  Crater  or  Creature-comforts;  no 
notices  to  "Keep  off  the  Lava,"  or,  "Beware 
of  the  Missionary. ' '  No  Town  Criers  ran  after 
us  filling  the  vales  with  the  clang  of  their 
265 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

dreadful  bell.    We  had  nothing  to  do  but  to 
get  as  lost  as  possible  and  hug  ourselves  and 
chuckle  in  sheer  delight  at  the  thought  of  our 
delicious    predicament.      Kane-Aloha   played 
the  Raven  and  I  the  Prophet  and  he  fed  me 
with  the  fairest  fruits  that  ripened  by  the  way 
side.     Sometimes  in  the  shadow  of  deep  ra 
vines  we  stopped  to  bathe,   and  water  and 
refresh  our  beasts.    Sometimes  upon  the  breezy 
hill-tops  with  the  azure  sea  curled  up  at  the 
horizon  brim  like  a  wine  cup,  we  paused  to 
laugh  aloud,  or  shout,  for  the  very  joy  of  liv 
ing,  and  our  hearts  were  ready  to  burst  with 
the  love  and  lust  of  it  all.    For  a  wonder  we 
met  no  one.    Hour  after  hour  passed  on  and 
we  seemed  only  to  be  journeying  farther  and 
farther  from  the  world  we  had  left  behind  us. 
The    Hawaiians  in  those   old    days    seemed 
always  to  be  visiting  and  returning  visits,  or 
voyaging  to  and  fro  between  their  islands ;  yet 
here  were  we,  babes  in  the  wood,  with  hardly 
a  robin  to  bring  us  a  leaf  for  covering.    How 
ever  we  were  in  need  of  nothing.    Whenever 
this  jolly  fact  occurred  to  us  we  looked  into 
each  other's  eyes  and  laughed    again;   and 
while  we  were  thus  regaling    ourselves  with 
laughter  Kane- Aloha  uttered  a  cry  and  dashed 
down  the  trail  before  me.    There,  in  the  very 
266 


KANE-ALOHA 

middle  of  the  trail,  a  trail  so  narrow  that  two 
could  not  possibly  pass  one  another  on  it,  but 
one  must  plough  into  the  clinkers  or  sink  into 
the  forest  of  fern  and  surrender  the  right  of 
way,  there  stood  a  stick  as  tall  as  one 's  middle 
and  in  a  slit  at  the  top  of  it  a  slip  of  paper 
folded  letter-fashion;  the  stake  was  planted 
firmly  in  the  center  of  the  trail  and  no  one 
could  pass  it  by  daylight  without  its  arresting 
his  attention. 

Kane-Aloha  with  a  hesitating  hand  deliv 
ered  the  message  to  me ;  I,  wishing  the  winds 
had  swept  it  from  our  coast  before  we  passed 
that  way,  opened  and  read.  The  chaperone 
was  much  concerned  at  our  absence ;  it  had 
become  necessary  for  him  to  press  on  to  the 
next  Mission  House  where  he  sincerely  hoped 
that  I  would  join  him  at  an  early  hour.  I 
asked  Kane-Aloha  if  he  knew  where  this  par 
ticular  Mission  House  was  situated.  He  said 
he  thought  he  did.  I  asked  him  to  think  again. 
He  thought  he  did  not ;  but  he  knew  of  a  native 
house  over  yonder,  pointing  to  a  purple  and 
golden  paradise  on  the  verge  of  the  cerulean 
sea,  where  very  good  people  lived,  and  they 
would  shelter  us  from  the  elements  in  case 
they  should  declare  merry  war  during  the 
night.  Unto  that  very  house  we  came,  we  saw, 
267 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

we  conquered.  If  we  were  prodigal  sons,  with 
nothing  to  waste  but  our  time,  our  host  was 
more  prodigal  than  we  and  yearned  to  kill 
every  fatted  thing  on  the  premises — that  the 
words  of  the  prophets  might  be  fulfilled  to  our 
advantage. 

We  reveled  in  riotous  living  and  unraveled 
with  an  alacrity  worthy  of  machine-made 
clothing.  Kane-Aloha  had  been  shedding  gar 
ments  by  the  way  all  the  blessed  afternoon. 
It  was  evident  that  presently  there  would  not 
be  a  solitary  stitch  left  for  propriety's  sake. 
Nobody  seemed  to  care  in  the  least.  It 
was  hot  out  yonder  in  the  sun;  it  was  cooler 
than  cucumbers  in  the  twilight  of  the  thatch 
that  sheltered  us.  The  indolent  zephyr 
breathed  upon  us  freighted  with  the  narcotic 
aroma  of  cocoanut-oil  and  we  yielded  to  the 
seductions  of  the  hour.  Is  there  anything 
more  soothing,  more  cleansing,  more  ennobling 
and  refining  than  the  caress  of  the  pure,  cool 
air  when  it  comes  in  immediate  contact  with 
the  human  body  as  God  created  it?  0,  Ye 
Tailors!  Ye  Men-Milliners!  Ye  Out-fitters 
of  the  Unfit !  Ye  Padders,  and  Upholsterers, 
and  Repairers  and  Remodelers  of  the  human 
form  divine,  out  upon  Ye!  To  the  bargain 
counter  with  you,  with  you  and  your  wiles  and 
268 


KANE-ALOHA 

your  wares !  Know  ye  not  that  sin  came  into 
the  world  along  with  a  clout  of  fig-leaves  and 
that  a  set  of  bifurcated  morals  is  offered  wTith 
every  marketable  pair  of  "Gents'  pants?" 

We  slept  the  sleep  of  the  just  made  perfect 
by  the  realization  of  our  wildest  dream ;  mean 
while  at  the  Mission  House,  far  beyond  the 
border  of  our  private  horizon,  the  chaperone 
was  joining  in  the  prayer  of  the  Family  Circle, 
that  we,  the  unregenerated,  might  be  delivered 
from  evil. 

A  misty  morning  followed  and  the  trail  was 
faintly  traceable  when  we  struck  it  and  re 
sumed  our  way.  Silver  hammocks,  fairy  fab 
rics  decked  with  diamond-dew,  swung  across 
our  path  and  sometimes  swept  our  faces. 
There  lurked  colossal  spiders  as  gorgeous  as 
Easter  eggs ;  resplendent  spiders  with  legs  like 
umbrella  frames,  feathered  with  lambrequins. 
Sometimes  a  rain  squall  chased  us  to  the  near 
est  shelter  and  so  we  barely  escaped  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  good  Samaritans  who 
mourned  with  the  bereaved  chaperone  our  un 
timely  taking  off.  A  seasonable  detour  spared 
us  a  luncheon  and  an  apology  or  an  explana 
tion  that  must  have  robbed  us  of  our  appetites. 
There  were  messages  along  the  way,  white  bil 
lets,  set  in  beforked  twigs  that  increased  and 
269 


THE   ISLAND   OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

multiplied  in  numbers  and  severity  as  we  re 
luctantly  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  our 
Elders.  Ours  was  a  solemn  burlesque  of  a 
paper  chase ;  what  trophy  awaited  us  when  we 
should  have  reached  the  goal?  That  was  the 
question. 

There  was  another  night  between  us  and  our 
journey's  end.  A  night  of  wind-gusts  and 
spluttering  rain;  a  poor  shelter  with  half- 
starved  goat  herds  whose  hearts  beat  far  be 
yond  the  dreams  of  avarice  for  neither  love 
nor  money  could  tempt  them  to  offer  what  they 
had  not.  There  was  poi,  of  course,  as  there 
always  is  poi  where  two  or  three  are  gathered 
together  if  only  for  a  few  moments ;  and  there 
was  a  leaf  full  of  berries  that  looked  like  great 
amber  beads  and  when  they  exploded  in  your 
mouth  you  had  to  hunt  all  around  for  a  flavor ; 
and  there  were  five  oliias,  those  wild  apples 
that  have  never  been  tamed,  with  flesh  as  pale 
as  spermaceti;  it  tastes  like  temperate  ice 
cream  sopped  in  rose  water.  No  fish  was  there, 
no  sea  food  of  any  description  ever  is ;  no  meat 
is  ever  there  unless  it  be  a  yard  or  two  of 
jerked  Billy  Goat,  but  even  this  is  a  movable 
feast.  No  vegetables?  0,  yes!  there  is  the 
taro,  and  of  the  dust  of  the  taro  is  poi  created. 
There  is  no  wine  mingled  with  myrrh,  no  bottle, 
270 


KANE- ALOHA 

no  bird,  not  even  cologne,  or  kerosene,  or  so 
little  as  an  English  sparrow.  Why,  at  that 
crisis  a  "fiver"  in  the  hand  would  have  been 
worth  two  of  them  in  the  bush. 

It  is  written  the  way  of  the  transgressor  is 
hard.  We  had  certainly  transgressed  the  un 
written  law  but  we  were  not  in  the  least  sorry 
for  it.  We  were  wet  through,  chilled  to  the 
bone  and  as  hungry  as  two  City  Cats  in  mid 
summer.  Therefore  we  hastened  our  steps 
and  at  last  bounded  into  the  arena,  where  the 
chaperone  and  his  consort  were  waiting  to  re 
ceive  us.  We  were  cordially  welcomed  though 
we  knew  we  didn  't  deserve  to  be.  "No  questions 
were  asked,  no  revelations  volunteered;  you 
see  the  island  was  too  narrow  for  us  to  go  very 
far  astray  in,  and  they  knew  it.  Moreover 
there  was  a  small  steamer  in  port  and  our 
passages,  the  chaperone 's  and  mine,  were  al 
ready  engaged.  In  an  hour  we  were  to  em 
bark  for  another  shore  and  all  that  was  left 
to  be  done  must  be  done  quickly. 

Nearly  everything  had  been  done  and  done 
alone,  without  consulting  me.  To  begin  with 
the  chaperone  had  sold  my  horse  from  under 
me.  Now  that  was  the  first  horse  I  ever  owned 
and  it  is  likely  to  be  the  last.  I  bought  him 
because  he  was  beautiful  and  bright,  and  when 
271 


THE   ISLAND   OP   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

he  stood,  he  stood  as  born  to  rule  the  storm, 
like  young  Casablanca.  He  was  sleek,  nut- 
brown  and  silky,  with  a  silver  star  upon  his 
forehead,  a  star  upon  his  breast  and  two  pairs 
of  white  stockings  gartered  above  the  knee.  I 
thought  him  a  rival  to  the  celebrated  Arab 
Steed,  for  his  pink  nostrils  quivered,  his  tail 
was  a  funereal  plume  and  his  mane  broke  like 
a  black  wave  along  his  high  arched  neck.  I 
bought  him  for  ten  dollars  and  one  sporting 
man  thought  he  was  worth  it,  but  I  had  to  get 
him  shod  at  the  rate  of  one  dollar  a  shoe  and 
that  nearly  staggered  me  at  the  time.  His 
name  was  Kona,  the  South  wind,  for  he  was 
born  on  the  leeward  side  of  the  island  where 
it  never  rains ;  where  there  are  no  running 
streams  or  standing  pools  and  he  had  never 
learned  to  drink.  He  used  to  gather  a  mouth 
ful  of  grass  by  the  wayside  and  carry  it  in 
his  mouth  for  hours,  munching  and  sucking 
the  juices  from  it.  At  first  I  strove  to  rid 
him  of  it,  fearing  it  was  tangled  in  his  bit. 
He  looked  like  a  stuffed  horse  that  had  sprung 
a  leak ;  but  through  all  our  struggles  he  hung 
on  to  the  grass  for  he  was  brave  and  didn't 
care  for  appearances,  and  he  was  a  confirmed 
chewer. 

Bye  and  bye  we  rounded  the  corner  of  the 
272 


KANE-ALOHA 

island  and  came  into  a  land  where  it  is  al 
most  always  afternoon— and  a  rainy  after 
noon  at  that — and  where  there  was  ever  the 
lightning  flash  of  intermittent  waterfalls  and 
the  babbling  of  brooks  galore  and  I  said  to 
him :  Eejoice,  0  Kona !  This  is  even  the  prom 
ised  land;  but  I  would  especially  recommend 
you,  after  all  the  days  of  your  life  during 
which  you  have  been  athirst,  to  devote  your 
self  to  the  consumption  of  the  sparkling  and 
bright !  He  did  not  drink ;  he  evidently  had 
not  the  slightest  intention  of  drinking,  on  to 
the  end  of  time.  Surely  you  remember  the 
words  of  the  old  song,  or  is  it  just  plain  prose  ? 
1  'You  may  lead  a  horse  to  the  water  but  you 
cannot  make  him  drink. ' '  We  remembered  it 
and  lost  patience  and  with  one  accord  sat  upon 
him  and  shinned  out  upon  his  neck  as  if  it  had 
been  a  bowsprit  and  then  his  head  went  under 
and  he  nearly  strangled  to  death,  but,  0 !  how 
he  liked  it.  After  that  he  insisted  upon  being 
led  beside  still  waters  and  there  he  dreamed 
and  drooled.  We  had  accomplished  our  hell 
ish  purpose.  We  had  driven  him  to  drink ! 

Kane-Aloha  stood    close   by   me  when    the 

chaperone  gently  broke  the  news.    He  thought 

it  a  bargain  but  he  didn't  want  me  to  be  too 

happy  over  it  for  some  people  die  of  joy; 

273 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

so  he  broke  the  news  gently;  he  had  sold  my 
Kona  for  the  sum  of  one  dollar  and  there  was 
the  identical  coin.  I  was  struck  dumb,  it  was 
all  so  sudden ;  my  eyes  were  fixed  on  vacancy. 
Kane-Aloha  turned  light  green,  and  then 
wailed  to  beat  the  band.  Sobs  shook  him  to  his 
very  foundations.  His  dream  was  o  'er.  Had  he 
not  pictured  me  in  these  last  moments  giving 
him  as  a  royal  gift,— the  steed  we  loved  so 
well  ?  He  was  to  lead  it  leisurely  back  to  Hilo 
and  set  it  free  in  the  greenest  of  pastures 
where  it  should  feed  and  fatten  even  to  the 
pitch  of  bursting,  until  my  long  looked-for 
return.  Then  we  should  again  ride  together, 
as  in  the  days  of  our  youth,  scaling  moun 
tain  heights  regardless  of  the  laws  of  gravita 
tion.  There  was  more  of  this  word-painting 
set  to  the  music  of  a  voice  that  had  a  hard  time 
dodging  the  heart  in  his  throat. 

I  could  stand  this  no  longer;  seizing  the 
poor  boy  by  the  arm  I  ran  in  search  of  the 
man  who  had  purchased  Kona.  He  drove  a 
sharp  bargain ;  he  had  a  will  of  iron,  a  heart 
of  marble ;  he  was  not  a  man  of  feeling,  of  sen 
sibility.  His  cup  of  Kindness  did  not  run 
over,  at  least  not  on  our  side  of  it. 

I  bought  back  my  Kona.  He  was  by  this 
time  skin  and  bone;  he  had  been  hard  ridden 
274 


KANE-ALOHA 

for  many  weary  days,  over  landscapes  in  which 
he  took  no  interest  whatever.  Moreover  his 
habits  were  beginning  to  tell  upon  him.  It 
was  a  wonder  he  was  not  water-logged.  I 
placed  him  in  the  hands  of  Kane-Aloha.  I 
had  to  pay  one  fifty  to  get  him  back  again  so 
his  purchaser  made  fifty  per  cent,  on  his  in 
vestment  inside  of  fifteen  minutes. 

I  said,  "Take  him  0,  Beloved!  0,  com 
rade  by  flood  and  field !  Keep  him  forever  in 
memory  of  the  past !  He  is  thine,  all  thine, 
aikane!  Bosom-friend!  Take  him  and  wear 
him  next  thy  heart,  until  we  meet  again ! ' ' 

Then  I  ran  as  fast  as  ever  I  could  to  the 
shore  where  the  chap er one  was  shouting  to  me 
from  the  boat  that  was  to  bear  us  to  the  little 
Transport  in  the  offing,  and  that  was  the  end 
of  it  all.  The  end  of  the  story  of  Kona,  the 
South  Wind ;  and  of  Kane-Aloha,  well  named 
the  Loving  Man. 

Kane- Aloha?  I  never  saw  him  more,  nor 
Kona  either;  nor  ever  heard  of  any  scion  of 
the  former,  the  fruit  of  some  undreamed  mar 
riage,  following  in  the  footsteps  of  his  father 
to  the  lookout  on  the  hill-top,  watching,  ever 
watching  for  my  return ;  nor  for  any  foal  in 
whose  frisky  veins  rioted  the  blood  of  the  un- 
forgotten  Kona. 

275 


THE   ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

It  may  be  that  sometime,  somewhere,  the 
tale-tellers  will  tell  the  tales  of  two  horses  and 
their  boys  and  that  our  harmless  life  and  ad 
ventures  will  become  historical,  as  has  many 
another  incident  of  little  moment;  it  may  be 
that  this  episode  is  hardly  worth  remembering 
at  all,  yet  I  cannot  forget  it  nor  refrain  from 
recounting  it  since  it  once  touched  me  to  the 
quick.  It  does  not  matter  if  in  my  calmer 
moments  reason  cautions  me  to  beware— my 
head  and  my  heart  don't  hitch— they  never  did 
—and  so  I  have  written  as  I  have  written ;  and 
I  shall  not  have  written  in  vain  if  I,  for  a  few 
moments  only,  have  afforded  interest  or  pleas 
ure  to  the  careful  student  of  the  Unnatural 
•History  of  Civilization. 


276 


THE  PALAOA 


THE  PALAOA 


D 


OES  any  one  know  aught  of  primeval 
Lahaina,  I  wonder,  more  than  this— that  she 
was  once  populous  and  paradisiacal ;  that  the 
sun  sat  in  the  lap  of  her  and  the  sea  laved 
her  shores  night  and  day  1 

Of  all  the  meles,  tongued  trippingly  from 
generation  to  generation,  that  now  seldom 
seek  to  beguile  the  more  worldly  ear,  I  find 
little  that  concerns  Lahaina.  It  seems  that 
from  the  very  beginning  she  lay  under  the 
sun  and  was  a  namesake  of  the  fact ;  the  fact 
is  as  patent  to-day  as  ever  it  dared  to  be; 
and  that  her  grape  blossoms  were  sweet— the 
breath  of  her  maidens  not  sweeter,  for  was  it 
not  said  of  something  luscious  and  sung  of 
old,  that  verily  it  was  "Sweet  as  the  grape 
blossoms  of  Lahaina?"  But  both  the  maid 
ens  and  the  fruit  of  the  Vine  have  degen 
erated,  along  with  her  court-favors  and  her 
commerce. 

I  write  of  the  middle-age  of  the  Hawaiian 
Era,  when  royalty  had  already  abandoned 
Lahaina  to  her  slumbers  and  she  was  no 
longer  the  Capital  of  one  of  the  proudest  and 
prettiest  Kingdoms  that  was  ever  reigned  over 
279 


THE    ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL    DELIGHTS 

by  right  divine.  The  days  when  voyagers 
graciously  arrived  and  departed  by  the  two- 
masted  schooner— the  doubtfullest  craft  afloat ; 
when,  if  once  or  twice  a  year  a  whaler  dropped 
anchor  in  the  roadstead,  it  was  apparently  for 
no  other  purpose  than  to  kill  time  with  water 
melon-orgies  and  make  a  silhouette  against 
one  of  those  celebrated  sunsets— I  may  add 
that  in  both  instances  she  was  eminently 
successful. 

Your  toilers  and  spinners  would  have  found 
life  there  very  slow,  no  doubt,  for  they  flour 
ish  in  the  hurly-burly  and  are  a  component 
part  of  it ;  but  it  was  sweet  and  commendable 
for  a7  that  and  a'  that. 

There  was  a  reviving  coolness  in  the  air 
about  daybreak  that  was  quite  irresistible; 
we  were  out  of  bed  and  into  the  sea  long 
before  the  sun  peeped  over  the  Eastern  hill 
tops;  by  the  by,  those  hill-tops  are  uncom 
monly  lofty  in  the  rear  of  Lahaina.  Coffee 
was  then  in  order,  and  a  leisurely  stroll 
through  the  main  street  of  the  settlement,  its 
boulevard,  its  only  highway  worthy  of  the 
name;  that  avenue  has  but  one  civilized  side 
to  it,  for  the  wave  breaks  lightly  upon  the 
other  and  as  a  thoroughfare  for  the  amphibi 
ous  it  is  perhaps  the  broadest  in  the  world 
280 


THE  PALAOA 

—stretching,  as  it  does,  from  the  breadfruits 
of  Lahaina  to  the  bamboos  of  Cathay.  A 
bountiful  breakfast  at  the  tenth  hour  waited 
upon  the  sharpened  appetite,  and  this  was 
followed  by  a  long  peace-pipe  shared  with  the 
gossips  of  the  town.  Ah!  that  was  a  motley 
gathering,  when  we  gathered  together  with 
one  accord  and  solemnly  hit  the  Calumet. 
Some  of  these  worthies  used  to  assemble  at 
the  Custom  House,  a  semi-serious  conclave 
whose  unwritten  history  is  well-nigh  forgot 
ten.  There  was  T ,  a  circulating  encyclo 
paedia  of  anecdote,  whose  appropos  trod  upon 
the  heels  of  every  utterance,  and  yet  he  was 
never  known  to  repeat  himself.  There  was 
the  mysterious  S ,  of  whom  it  was  whis 
pered  his  mother  tongue  had  a  step-mother 
rival  in  the  Arabic ;  he  certainly  had  an  Ori 
ental  air  and  secretly  dealt  in  magic  and 
spells  for  all  we  knew  to  the  contrary.  And 

there  was  0 ,  the  great  communicator,  who 

could  say  more  in  a  minute  than  he  could 
stand  to  in  a  month;  he  was  descended  from 
the  Ananiases  and  so  well  had  he  established 
his  reputation  that,  when  he  was  one  day 
missing  and  some  time  afterward  found  hang 
ing  by  the  neck  to  his  own  roof -tree,  no  one 
would  believe  that  he  was  dead,  dead,  dead. 
281 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

In  those  days  the  gentle  resident  Historian 
with  placid  eye  surveyed  us  from  his  mount 
of  tradition,  no  doubt  marveling  that  we  could 
play  so  thoughtlessly  upon  the  surface  of 
things,  the  foundations  of  which  were  laid  in 
the  myths  of  the  ages. 

We  laughed  at  care  then  even  in  the  hol 
low  halls  of  the  Custom  House,  and  from 
time  to  time  went  out  upon  the  high  veranda 
and  scoured  the  sea  with  a  verdigrised  tele 
scope  in  search  of  phantom  ships.  We  were 
invariably  lost  in  amazement  that  they  were 
not  even  then  making  for  the  palm-punctuated 
port  under  full  sail,  so  that  the  Commodore 
might  that  very  evening  sit  with  us  under  the 
wide-spreading  Banian-tree  and  watch  the  sun 
go  down. 

That  sun-down-sea  was  a  sight  to  behold! 
There  were  always  a  couple  of  islands  thrown 
in  for  effect,  and  the  whole  population  came 
out  to  look  on  with  a  chorus  of  audible  ap 
proval  that  was  like  the  drone  of  bees;  we 
invariably  dozed  before  this  hour  so  as  to  be 
able  to  live  up  to  it,  and  when  we  awoke,  we 
drove  briskly  to  and  fro  among  the  groves  to 
quicken  our  seven  senses.  By  this  time  the 
sky  began  to  show  symptoms  and  the  sea  to 
grow  sympathetic— but  I'll  not  go  all  through 
282 


THE  PALAOA 

a  Lahaina  sunset  at  this  late  date  for  there 
never  were  two  alike  and  I  know  not  where 
to  choose. 

After  sunset  lo,  precipitous  twilight!  It 
usually  came  on  with  the  black  coffee  just  as 

T and  S ,  at  whose  joint-board  I  sat 

many  an  evening,  turned  from  the  table  on 
the  veranda  to  tales  that  might  have  stag 
gered  the  marines.  At  nine  o'clock  we  ad 
journed  to  the  dusky  sitting-room,  a  room 
that  was  still  dusky  even  when  the  astral 
lamp  was  lighted  and  flanked  by  waxen  satel 
lites  flickering  in  tall  glass  cylinders,  that  shel 
tered  them  from  the  winds ;  a  room  tapestried 
with  shadows  and  having  dark  furnishings 
that  absorbed  the  light.  It  was  a  room  in 
which  to  tell  a  grewsome  tale  and  to  nourish 
the  gravest  superstitions.  On  the  wall  hung 
flat  Chinese  paintings  of  Chinese  seaports  in 
frames  grotesquely  carved;  tattooed  walrus 
tusks  shone  dimly  among  the  bric-a-brac, 
trophies  of  T 's  early  voyages. 

On  the  stroke  of  the  clock  a  coolie  entered 
with  bowls  of  scalding  tea ;  a  fragile  Chinese 
tabouret  placed  by  each  occupied  chair  held 
the  steaming  draughts;  there  we  smoked  and 
sipped  and  chatted  while  the  gray  night 
moths  with  their  ruby  eyes  waltzed  about  the 
283 


THE    ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL    DELIGHTS 

lights  and  dragon  flies,  those  natural  born 
flying-machines,  skated  athwart  the  ceiling. 

The  sea  was  very  near  us;  its  spray  was 
sometimes  scattered  over  the  lanai,  or  broad 
veranda,  where  we  had  dined;  and  the  low 
mutter  of  the  long  wave  that  fell  languidly 
upon  the  Lahaina  shore  was  the  key-note  of 
the  Even-song,  without  which  the  village 
would  have  lost  its  identity. 

The  pestiferous  0 lived  a  kind  of  her 
mit  life  in  a  suburban  cottage  where  he  treas 
ured  a  few  interesting  volumes  and  certain 
cups  and  medals  of  silver  by  which  he  set 
great  store,  hinting  vaguely  at  ancestral  hon 
ors,  which  no  one  cared  to  question.  He  had 
cottages  at  hand,  connected  with  his  own  by 
grape  arbors  that  seemed  a  league  in  length 
when  viewed  in  delusive  perspective.  I  lodged 
in  one  of  these  nest-like  cots  for  a  time  courting 
solitude,  but  was  continually  surprised  among 

the  leafy  cloisters  by  the  sly-footed  0 ,  or 

his  shade,  and  soon  learned  that  he  had  an  all- 
seeing  eye  and  an  all-saying  tongue,  so  I  was 
obliged  to  seek  refuge  elsewhere.  House  hunt 
ing  in  those  days,  when  Lahaina  was  a  dream 
and  not  the  nightmare  it  now  is,  was  no 
easy  matter.  The  huddle  of  grass-huts  was 
crowded  to  excess.  On  the  other  hand  there 

284 


THE  PALAOA 

was  no  hotel,  no  pension,  no  tenement  to  fly 
to  for  temporary  refuge.  The  villa-like  resi 
dences  of  the  elite  were  private  property  and 
not  on  the  market,  or  likely  soon  to  be.  I 
knew  of  but  one  available  mansion  and  it 
would  be  necessary  to  remodel  it  in  order  to 
make  it  habitable;  this  was  the  Tomb  of  the 
Kings.  Lahaina  in  its  glory  was  the  home  of 
royalty.  There  dwelt  the  rulers  of  the  people 
and  there  they  died  and  were  buried,  for  in 
death  they  were  not  divided.  It  was  an  airy 
mausoleum  builded  of  coral  blocks;  within 
it  of  old  were  ranged  the  sarcophagi  that  en 
cased  the  spiced  dust  of  the  mightiest  of  their 
race.  A  hallowed  spot  it  was  where  the  na 
tives  gathered  at  intervals  chanting,  in  tremu 
lous  recitative,  the  epic  of  their  heroes — heroes 
who  ranked  even  among  the  gods.  When  the 
new  Mausoleum  was  erected  up  the  Valley  of 
Nuuanu,  back  of  Honolulu,  all  the  dust  of  the 
dead  was  solemnly  conveyed  from  its  long 
home — which  was  not  so  long  as  it  might  have 
been  under  other  circumstances — and  with 
august  ceremonies  deposited  where  in  all 
probability  it  will  remain  until  doomsday. 
Then  the  old  tomb  was  "To  Let,"  nobody 
seemed  to  care  for  it  any  longer.  Once  upon 
a  time  it  had  been  as  the  Holy  of  Holies. 
285 


THE    ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL    DELIGHTS 

Never  anyone  who  was  hatted  passed  near  it 
without  uncovering.  Not  a  day  went  by  but 
there  was  wailing  there ;  elegies  were  sung 
by  those  whose  voices  were  softened  with  tears. 
Matins  and  vespers  of  profound  solemnity 
filled  the  air  with  lamentations  that  stormed 
high  heaven  and  perchance  saluted  the  ears 
of  those  whose  numberless  virtues  were  thus 
heralded  to  the  skies.  It  was  a  place  of  pil 
grimage,  a  shrine  to  which  willing  and  loyal 
hearts  wended  their  way  from  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  kingdom.  A  tribute  of  flowers 
was  forever  heaped  upon  its  threshold  and  the 
over-creeping  vines  had  made  of  it  a  bower 
of  beauty.  Before  it  were  planted  the  tall 
kahilis— those  stately  staves  tipped  with  deep 
ruffs  of  feathers  that  for  splendor  of  form 
and  color  rival  the  plumage  of  paradise-birds 
— these  the  emblems  of  royalty,  precious  as 
the  relics  of  the  saints.  Always  there  fell  with 
the  shades  of  night  such  a  silence  as  was  never 
broken  or  profaned  by  even  so  much  or  so 
little  as  a  whisper.  It  was  the  season  of  com 
munion  among  the  gods  and  no  mere  mortal 
ever  ventured  there  in  the  darkness.  No  won 
der  it  was  ''to  let;"  the  finest,  airiest,  room 
iest  chamber  in  the  port  "for  rent"  and  yet 
suffered  to  remain  untenanted  year  after  year, 
286 


THE  PALAOA 

and  avoided  even  in  daylight  by  all  the 
passers-by  as  if  it  had  been  a  pest  house. 
This  unsealed  sepulchre  I  could  have  for  the 
asking.  It  had  been  unvisited  for  a  genera 
tion;  no  one  cared  to  enter  and  explore  it; 
yet  no  one  would  ask  to  have  its  walls  thrown 
down  for  it  had  been  consecrated  by  the  dust 
of  Kings  and  was  a  hallowed  landmark  for 
all  time. 

One  day  I  procured  a  rusty  key  and  with 
some  difficulty  forced  the  lock  and  entered. 
It  had  a  chill  of  its  own,  like  a  refrigerator. 
I  found  that  its  pavement  was  in  good  repair ; 
that  if  its  walls  were  whitened  and  a  window 
or  two  let  into  them  it  might  present  a  pleas 
ing  and  even  cheerful  appearance.  The  roof 
was  in  excellent  condition.  What  was  needed 
most  was  a  deep  veranda,  or  lanai,  before  it, 
and  a  door  opening  on  the  side  or  rear  that 
would  admit  one  to  a  sleeping  room  to  be 
added  by  the  occupant. 

It  was  surely  a  bargain.  When  I  took  pos 
session  of  the  place  there  was  not  one  more 
attractive  in  the  whole  archipelago.  What 
ever  shadow  of  fear  I  may  have  had  in  the 
beginning  soon  passed  away.  I  had  forgotten 
to  be  afraid.  Moreover  I  had  as  my  constant 
companion  a  Gordon  setter  whose  loving  trust- 

287 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

fulness  had  won  all  my  heart  and  awakened 
in  me  a  passion  that  was  akin  to  devotion. 
We  comprehended  one  another  perfectly ;  the 
exchange  of  a  glance  of  the  eye  was  sufficient 
to  bring  us  to  a  complete  understanding  of 
any  circumstance,  and  I  never  had  occasion 
to  reprove  Fantine  or  to  speak  harshly  to  her 
so  long  as  we  were  spared  to  one  another.  At 
the  mere  sound  of  my  voice  she  moved  her 
plume-like  tail  and  often  and  often  looked  up 
to  me  over  her  shoulder  with  the  luminous 
eyes  of  love — eyes  like  great  jewels  imprison 
ing  a  flame.  We  were  never  separated;  we 
were  nearly  always  within  sight  of  one  another 
and  my  slightest  movement  brought  her  to  my 
side.  How  could  one  be  lonely  with  such  com 
panionship  even  though  our  home  was  a  de 
serted  sepulchre  and  the  shade  we  dwelt  in  as 
the  Valley  of  the  Shadow  of  Death. 

That  living  tomb  was  the  very  place  wherein 
something  unusual  might  happen ;  I  assured 
myself  of  the  fact  over  and  over  again.  Well, 
it  happened,  and  it  happened  in  this  wise : 

I  was  lying  upon  the  couch  in  the  inner 
room  and  had  evidently  been  dozing.  A  por 
tion  of  the  room  was  latticed,  but  the  night 
was  dark  and  the  only  light  we  had  burned 
dimly  on  the  center  table  in  the  great  hall  of 
288 


THE  PALAOA 

the  tomb.  Fantine  was  violently  agitated  and 
giving  vent  to  little  screams  of  fright.  She 
was  crouching  on  the  floor  beside  me  and  striv 
ing  to  get  nearer  to  me,  but  was  trembling  so 
violently  that  her  paralyzed  limbs  seemed  un 
able  to  support  her  and  she,  poor  little  lady, 
was  as  one  suddenly  stricken  with  palsy.  Her 
eyes,  which  seemed  bursting  from  their  sock 
ets,  were  fixed  upon  some  object  in  the  outer 
room,  something  I  could  not  see  from  my  pil 
low,  and  I  rose  to  take  her  in  my  arms  and 
comfort  her  for  her  condition  alarmed  me. 
As  I  knelt  by  her  side  and  put  forth  my  arms 
to  draw  her  to  my  bosom  I  looked  in  the  direc 
tion  in  which  her  eyes  were  fixed  and  there 
stood  a  tall,  motionless  figure  clad  in  the 
feather  helmet  of  the  Roman  fashion  such  as 
was  worn  by  the  high  chiefs  of  old  and  the 
long  cloak  of  feathers  that  was  the  mantle  of 
royalty,  when  such  divinity  hedged  the  Lord 's 
Anointed  that  to  tread  even  upon  the  shadow 
of  the  throne  was  certain  and  instant  death. 
My  heart  fainted  within  me.  Had  the  buried 
majesty  of  the  Island  Kingdom  revisited  the 
glimpses  of  the  pale  lamp  then  burning  feebly 
in  that  hall  of  death  ?  Was  his  spirit  agrieved 
at  my  intrusion  1  His  slumbers  broken  at  the 
sacrilege?  Bore  he  upon  his  breathless  lips 
289 


THE   ISLAND   OP    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

the  curse  of  all  his  tribe,  for  the  everlasting 
peril  of  my  soul?  I  gathered  the  agonizing 
Fantine  to  my  heart  and  thought  to  steal 
away,  for  my  soul 's  sake,  and  to  spare  my  com 
panion  the  horror  of  madness  that  now  sadly 
shook  her  frame. 

I  could  not  speak ;  I  could  not  stir ;  all  my 
nerves  were  frozen  in  horror.  Slaver  bubbled 
upon  the  lips  of  my  poor,  beautiful  darling; 
mine  were  parched  as  with  fever;  my  brain 
reeled,  I  grew  faint  and  was  about  to  sink  to 
the  floor,  when  the  cause  of  my  consternation 
moved  slowly  from  the  spot  where  it  had  first 
appeared.  I  had  assured  myself  from  the 
moment  my  eyes  fell  upon  it  that  it  was  not  a 
living  being;  no  one  with  the  breath  of  life 
in  his  body  would  ever  have  appeared  to  me 
in  that  guise,  at  the  hour  when  graveyards 
yawn  and  graves  give  up  their  dead.  It  moved 
slowly,  very,  very  slowly,  and  so  silently  that 
I  could  hear  the  beating  of  our  foolish  hearts, 
Fantine 's  and  mine,  in  the  little  room  whence 
we  were  watching  it.  It  did  not  walk,  there 
was  no  perceptible  motion  of  the  limbs;  it 
floated  as  if  suspended  in  the  air;  there  was 
no  suggestion  of  corporeal  weight,  or  of  grav 
ity;  the  spectre  had  the  carriage  of  one  who 
had  been  born  to  rule;  a  dignity  that  com- 
290 


THE  PALAOA 

pelled  respect;  a  solemnity  that  commanded 
awe;  yet  it  was  buoyant  like  a  palpable 
shadow,  and  drifted  toward  us  as  noiselessly 
as  if  it  were  a  pillar  of  cloud.  One  arm  was 
lifted,  one  shadowy  hand  pointed  to  a  corner 
of  the  chamber  and  a  slight  inclination  of  the' 
hand  seemed  to  beckon  me  to  follow  it — for  it 
was  still  in  motion  as  if  it  were  being  wafted 
upon  the  air.  With  an  effort  I  rose  to  do  its 
bidding;  Fantine  seized  me  by  my  slumber 
robe  and  would  have  held  me  back  had  I  not 
stopped  transfixed  at  the  sight  I  then  beheld. 
The  apparition  drifted  softly  and  slowly 
between  me  and  the  lamp  and  in  that  moment 
there  was  but  a  partial  eclipse  of  the  flame. 
It  was  as  if  a  beacon  were  burning  through  a 
fog,  or  a  coal  were  smouldering  in  smoke. 
All  the  outline  of  the  figure  was  preserved 
and  as  sharply  defined  as  a  silhouette,  but  it 
was  not  opaque;  neither  was  it  transparent; 
it  was  translucent,  like  a  wraith  or  a  London 
fog;  as  it  moved  away  a  cool  breath  of  air 
seemed  to  sweep  after  it,  a  breath  that  had 
the  slight  chill  of  a  vault  and  the  musty  odor 
of  a  subterranean  cell.  Again  I  started  to 
approach  it,  but  at  that  moment  the  faint 
note  of  a  bell  in  the  tower  of  the  native  church 
at  the  other  end  of  the  village  fell  upon  my 
291 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

ear  and  the  shade  dissolved  away;  a  cock 
crowed  shrilly;  Fantine  barked  in  her  accus 
tomed  manner,  shook  herself  and  began  sniff 
ing  about  the  premises.  I  rubbed  my  eyes  in 
bewilderment  for  I  could  hardly  believe  that 
they  had  seen  what  I  seemed  to  have  seen — 
the  shadow  of  something  that  did  not  exist, 
though  it  must  have  once  lived  and  moved  and 
had  its  being  in  the  flesh.  Was  it  a  spiritual 
body  that  had  put  off  mortality  and  was,  for 
the  time  being,  made  manifest  in  its  resur 
rection?  It  looked  corporeal,  yet  vapory; 
rotund,  yet  of  such  a  texture  that  the  eye 
might  pierce  into  its  depths  and  the  hand 
pass  through  it  as  through  a  denser  mist.  It- 
was  a  demon,  possibly,  a  good  spirit,  though 
ill  at  ease  as  one  unshrived;  but  it  was  no 
devil  come  to  haunt  me — of  this  I  assured 
myself  a  thousand  times.  Fantine  and  I  went 
forth  and  wandered  by  the  sea  till  daybreak 
for  our  hearts  were  troubled  and  our  minds 
perplexed.  I  made  a  careful  examination  of 
the  tomb.  I  strove  to  ascertain  if  in  the  cor 
ner  to  which  the  spectre  pointed  there  was  any 
evidence  of  a  secret  door  that  should  lead  to  a 
hidden  recess  where,  possibly,  some  forgotten 
treasure  might  be  stored.  It  could  not  be  of 
much  intrinsic  value,  but,  surely,  it  would  be 
292 


THE  PALAOA 

worth  an  effort  at  discovery.  I  searched  long 
and  carefully,  but  all  in  vain.  If  there  was 
anything  secreted  there,  its  receptacle  was  no 
doubt  within  the  wall  or  beneath  the  pavement. 
To  find  it  the  plaster  must  be  removed  from  the 
wall  or  the  flagstone  from  the  pavement.  In 
any  event  I  resolved  to  prosecute  my  explora 
tion.  The  second  night,  my  Demon  came 
again.  I  was  watching  for  it  and  so,  also,  was 
Fantine,  for  she  grew  nervous  and  fretful  as 
the  midnight  hour  drew  near  and  was  fain 
to  nestle  in  my  arms  while  she  watched  my 
every  movement  with  loving  but  anxious  eyes. 
Suddenly  a  paroxysm  seized  her.  There 
towered  the  shadowy  form,  waving  its  hand 
persuasively  toward  the  corner  of  the  tomb 
as  on  its  previous  visitation.  Forewarned  is 
forearmed  in  very  truth.  With  comparative 
calmness  I  arose  and  followed  where  it 
beckoned;  Fantine,  grovelling  at  my  heels, 
dragged  her  quivering  body  after  me,  moan 
ing  piteously.  A  spectral  finger  of  a  spectral 
hand  that  seemed  to  have  become  detached 
from  the  arm,  floated  in  mid-air,  pointing 
downward  and  slowly  settling  till  it  touched 
a  certain  flag  in  the  pavement  where,  pausing 
for  a  moment  only,  it  passed  through  the  stone 
and  disappeared,  leaving  no  trace  behind. 
293 


THE    ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL    DELIGHTS 

The  body  of  the  spectre,  with  feather-cloak 
and  Roman  helmet  coated  with  well-preened 
feathers,  when  it  first  came  to  view  seemed  to 
have  materialized  in  my  very  presence,  and 
fashioned  itself  out  of  the  air  like  a  frosty 
breath.  It  made  no  formal  entrance,  and  no 
exit ;  but,  even  as  it  was  created  out  of  noth 
ing,  so  it  returned  to  nothing,  leaving  only  the 
hand  plainly  visible  to  point  me  to  the  spot 
where  it  sank  from  view. 

The  rest  is  soon  told,  though  it  was  kept 
secret  for  a  considerable  time  lest  gossip 
should  scandalize  the  neighborhood.  With 
the  help  of  my  native  servant,  a  faithful  soul, 
who  was  sworn  to  secrecy,  I  removed  the  flag 
ging  in  the  corner  of  the  tomb  where  the  van 
ished  hand  had  paused  and  returned  to  noth 
ingness,  and  began  an  excavation  that  soon 
brought  to  light— to  lamp  light,  for  our  labors 
were  not  begun  until  the  whole  settlement  had 
sunk  to  rest  and  were  completed  before  the 
peep  o'  day — soon  brought  to  light  the  remains 
of  what  was  once  a  Chieftain.  The  cloak  and 
the  helmet  were  easily  identified,  though  the 
last  vestiges  of  these  were  mixed  with  mould 
and  past  the  possibility  of  transportation. 
The  skull  was  intact;  the  bones  fallen  to 
gether  were  still  to  be  classified;  but  what 
294 


THE  PALAOA 

thrilled  me  with  delight  was  the  handsome 
palaoa,  in  perfect  preservation,  lying  where  it 
had  been  placed  about  the  neck  of  the  Chief 
who  had  worn  it,  and  buried  with  him  when 
his  body  had  been  committed  to  the  tomb,  so 
many  years  before.  The  palaoa— &  whale's 
tooth  very  cunningly  carved,  and  suspended 
about  the  neck  by  a  thousand  tiny  strands  of 
plaited  human  hair.  The  whale 's  tooth  with  its 
broad  hook  curved  outward  hung  upon  the 
royal  breast ;  the  strands  of  human  hair  gath 
ered  into  a  knot  were  fastened  behind  the  neck. 
When  I  saw  it,  lying  there  in  a  grave  that  had 
hidden  it  for  an  unknown  period,  I  reached 
eagerly  for  it,  and,  seizing  it  bore  it  to  the 
light  in  triumph.  It  was  mine,  all  mine; 
money  could  not  have  purchased  it,  nor  love 
either,  for  it  is  now  so  rare  a  relic  that  no  more 
are  to  be  obtained.  I  was  rejoicing  in  the 
possession  of  my  new-found  treasure  when  a 
cry  from  my  boy,  the  second  grave-digger, 
called  me  to  his  side.  He  was  peering  into  the 
grave  in  amazement,  and  no  wonder !  I  looked 
where  lately  lay  the  ashes  of  the  dead  and  not 
a  vestige  of  them  remained  to  view.  Being 
exposed  to  the  air  they  had  suddenly  crumbled 
away  and  the  grave  was  ravished  of  its  own. 
An  hour  later,  you  would  not  have  known  that 
295 


THE    ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL    DELIGHTS 

imparted  the  dead  secret  to  anyone,  that  one 
must  have  been  the  living  witness  of  his  death, 
the  Angelican  archdeacon  in  whose  knowledge 
it  is  locked  up  under  the  ecclesiastical  seal ; 
and  he,  the  archdeacon,  may  now  be  an  arch 
bishop  in  some  other  vineyard  of  the  Lord. 
The  vineyards  of  Lahaina  are  no  more ;  mon 
opoly  is  sugaring  the  soil,  seeking  to  turn 
beauty  into  very  hard  cash ;  but  crushed  cane 
is  not  so  sweet  as  the  grape  blossoms  of  lang 
syne,  nor  the  president's  pennies  so  goodly 
as  the  grapes  of  the  Hawaiian  Eschol. 

The  sound  of  the  grinding  has  not  ceased 
on  any  side  of  the  island;  on  the  contrary  it 
has  painfully  increased.  0  Sugar !  how  often 
has  thy  name  been  taken  in  vain !  Desire  has 
failed,  down  yonder  in  the  forlorn  Annex,  save 
the  desire  of  the  almighty  dollar.  The  mourn 
ers  go  about  the  streets  bewailing  their  better 
days;  all  the  daughters  of  music  have  been 
brought  low,  and  the  clodhopper  has  become 
a  burden.  I  wonder  if  anything  is  left  as  it 
was  when  I  knew  you,  Lahaina?  Passing 
the  port  again  after  nightfall  or  before  day 
break  I,  at  least,  might  recognize  the  outline 
of  the  delectable  mountains,  the  ceaseless  song 
of  the  sea,  the  clatter  of  the  indigenous  boat- 
boys.  Does  the  green  lane  still  thread  the 
298 


THE  PAT-AOA 

bread-fruit  grove  at  the  back  of  the  village 
and  lose  itself  from  time  to  time  in  a  guava 
jungle,  or  are  the  planters  raising  cane  on 
every  square  foot  of  the  soil?  Do  the  gold 
fish  flicker  flame-like  among  the  rushes  of 
the  forsaken  canal  or  have  the  docks  rushed 
in  where  angels  feared  to  tread  and  raised 
rainbow  blisters  on  the  oily  face  of  the  waters  ? 
Are  the  eyeless  skulls  still  staring  at  the  sun 
as  they  lie  bleaching  in  the  white  sand  on  the 
road  to  Kaanapali,  or  have  they  been  kicked 
into  space  by  impudent  feet  of  aliens  on  the 
pitiless  march  of  progress?  And  the  doves, 
the  fair  white  doves  with  wings  as  white  as 
snow,  dart  they  out  of  the  belfry  of  the  old 
native  church  when  the  bell  begins  to  swing 
and  ding  and  ring?  The  clang  of  the  bell 
alone  could  flutter  the  dove-cots  of  Lahaina, 
but  they  had  very  little  rest  for  all  that,  it 
being  an  ever-swinging,  ever-dinging,  ever- 
ringing  bell.  Are  the  thick  coral  walls  of  the 
old  mansions  still  standing  and  do  they  cover 
themselves  with  vines  and  splendor  and  flash 
a  broadside  of  windows  that  seem  to  wink  and 
to  blink  as  they  stare  out  upon  the  blinding 
sea  of  a  sunny  summer  afternoon?  Are  the 
Reverend  Fathers  in  faded  soutanes  still 
watching  their  flock  by  night  and  do  they 
299 


A  BUNGALOW  "  BEE  " 


A 


A  BUNGALOW  "BEE" 


VERY  dear  friend  once  said  to  me,  in 
a  moment  of  enthusiasm:  "Oh,  I  wish  you 
would  be  sick  so  that  I  could  take  care  of 
you ! ' '  Not  to  be  outdone  by  him  in  generosity 
and  self-sacrifice  I  straightway  fell  ill  and 
took  to  my  bed  on  the  shortest  possible  notice. 
It  happened  in  this  wise. 

I  awoke  one  morning  with  a  heavy  heart 
and  no  appetite  at  all.  Life  seemed  an  un 
bearable  burden,  and  the  world  was  a  blank. 
In  the  good  old  days  of  Hawaii  there  used  to 
be  a  purely  local  low  fever,  to  which  very 
many  of  the  unacclimated  foreigners  fell  easy 
victims.  It  was  called  the  boohoo  fever. 
When  it  seized  one  there  was  only  one  thing 
to  be  done,  and  that  was  to  dissolve  in  tears. 
There  was  nothing  to  cry  over, — not  even 
spilled  milk.  The  sun  shone  just  as  brightly, 
the  birds  sang  just  as  sweetly,  the  zephyr 
was  as  fragrant  as  ever,  and  the  world  was 
beautiful  as  of  yore;  but — everything  was 
wasted  on  the  boohoo  feverish  patient.  Rivers 
of  tears  flowed  night  and  day,  as  if  one  were 
weeping  for  one's  sins.  Surely  they  should 
have  been  washed  away,  even  the  stain  of 

305 


THE   ISLAND   OP   TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

them,  for  the  lachrymation  that  seemed  never 
to  cease  for  a  moment. 

There  were  four  of  us  keeping  bachelors' 
hall  at  Stag-Rocket  Bungalow,  up  Nuuanu 
Valley,  just  above  Honolulu.  There  was  not 
a  woman  within  sight  of  us.  We  could  not 
recognize  any  one  entering  our  gate,  it  was 
so  far  away  from  the  house.  The  house  itself 
was  as  light  and  airy  as  a  barn.  There  was 
never  a  door  or  a  window  closed  there  from 
one  year's  end  to  the  other— unless  the  great 
Kona  blew,  the  "sick-wind"  that  everyone 
dreads  and  shuts  out  of  doors  if  possible. 
But  the  Kona  was  not  blowing  when  I  re 
solved  to  give  up  the  ghost,  if  possible,  and 
depart  out  of  that  summer  land  with  all  its 
beauty,  and  return  no  more  for  aye. 

I  lay  speechless  upon  my  pillow,  albeit  the 
breakfast  bell  had  been  jingled  twice  at  least. 
Still  I  lay  there  with  my  face  to  the  wall,  and 
pitied  myself  mightily.  Akamah,  the  Celestial 
chef  and  man-of-all-work,  stood  in  my  door 
way  with  a  puzzled  cast  of  countenance;  the 
like  of  this  he  had  never  seen  before.  Being 
but  a  poor  sleeper,  often  I  wandered  in  the 
dead  of  night  onto  the  broad  veranda  and 
sat  rocking  to  and  fro  until  the  dawn  of  day. 
I  was  not  wedded  to  my  pillow.  Moreover, 
306 


A  BUNGALOW       BEE 

our  menagerie— a  half  dozen  fox  and  Irish 
terriers— had  the  freedom  of  the  place,  and 
at  intervals  during  the  night  would  spring 
from  dreams  of  the  chase  and  go  tearing 
throughout  the  house  with  a  barking  chorus 
that  was  enough  to  encourage  a  fit  of  nervous 
prostration. 

On  this  particular  morning  Akamah  with 
drew  from  my  presence,  and  I  heard  a  con 
versation  going  on  in  the  breakfast  room. 
Then  Momona,  who  was  our  chosen  head-of- 
the-house,  entered  my  room. 

"Are  you  ill?"  he  asked. 

"No." 

"Are  you  not  hungry?" 

"No." 

"Do  you  want  anything  done  for  you?" 

"No." 

"Then  what  is  the  matter?" 

"Nothing  is  the  matter.  Life  is  a  blank; 
that  is  all." 

Exit  Momona. 

Then  Polo  came  as  if  by  accident.  Hap 
pened  to  be  passing  that  way,  that  was  all. 
More  questions,  more  negative  replies.  Exit 
Polo.  Enter  Kali-Lili— all  these  were  our 
native  Hawaiian  names.  Kali-Lili  would  fain 
have  me  ill  so  that  he  might  nurse  me  back 
307 


THE  ISLAND  OP  TRAKQUIL  DELIGHTS 

to  health,  and  feel  that  he  had  saved  my  life. 
Kali-Lili  had  dark,  sympathetic  eyes  and  a 
laugh  that  led  all  of  us  to  laughter.  He  was 
serious  now;  he  sat  on  the  edge  of  the  bed 
and  wondered  what  he  could  do  for  me.  Alas ! 
nothing— nothing  whatever;  and  he  turned 
away  with  a  sad  face.  Then  there  was  an 
other  consultation  in  the  breakfast  room. 
After  that  they  came  in  a  body  to  say  good- 
by;  for  they  were  busy  in  the  town,  and 
had  to  leave  the  Bungalow  on  their  horses  at 
eight  in  the  morning.  I  did  not  see  them  until 
five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  They  each  and 
all  wondered  if  they  could  not  get  me  some 
thing  in  town  and  bring  it  home  to  gladden 
me  in  the  evening.  "No,  nothing  whatever." 
And  again  I  turned  my  face  to  the  wall, 
thinking  how  difficult  it  is  for  some  people  to 
die,  how  easy  for  some  others. 

I  heard  the  cavalcade  galloping  down  the 
long  lane;  and  later  I  heard  their  horses' 
hoofs  booming  on  the  two  wooden  bridges  that 
span  the  stream  flowing  between  the  Bunga 
low  and  town.  Silence  followed,  broken  only 
by  the  chirp  of  crickets,  the  delirious  headlong 
flight  of  those  winged  javelins,  the  dragon- 
flies,  that  darted  into  my  chamber  and  nearly 
broke  their  necks  before  they  could  find  their 
308 


A  BUNGALOW  "BEE77 

way  out  again.  There  was  also  the  nasal 
drawl  of  the  trumpeting  mosquito,  the  noisy 
carol  of  the  myna  birds,  and  the  soft,  far 
away  refrain  of  the  reef  that  sings  with  un 
ceasing  song. 

I  was  thinking  of  all  these  things  as  I  lay 
in  my  gauzy  tent,— for  one  must  lie  under  a 
tent  of  gauze  if  one  would  escape  the  assaults 
of  the  mosquito  night  or  day.  My  bed  was 
evidently  an  heirloom.  It  was  one  of  those 
very  tall  four-poster  bedsteads  such  as  must 
have  come  over  in  the  Ark.  These  posts  were 
richly  carved  and  supported  a  canopy  of 
turkey  red  material  with  a  fringe  of  white 
tassels;  the  mosquito  tent  slid  beneath  it  on 
two  iron  rods  that  ran  the  length  of  the  bed. 
Once  within  this  gauzy  fortress,  I  felt  secure 
from  all  assaults. 

Yet  I  was  not !  As  I  lay  there  and  thought 
upon  my  foolish  waste  of  life,  I  heard  a  soft 
footstep  in  the  passage  that  separated  the 
breakfast  room  from  the  rest  of  the  house  and 
made  of  it  a  kind  of  kiosk  at  the  end  of  the 
great  veranda.  I  said  to  myself :  ' '  That  must 
be  Akamah.  He  is  putting  the  breakfast 
things  away.  A  faithful  soul  is  Akamah!" 
Then  I  heard  a  noise  as  of  something  being 
stirred  violently  in  a  glass.  I  hoped  and 
309 


THE    ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL    DELIGHTS 

prayed  that  my  illness— such  as  it  was— had 
not  driven  this  highly  respectable  son  of  the 
Orient  to  drink.  We  already  had  one  un 
timely  grave  in  the  back  yard.  It  was  that 
of  the  young  wife  of  the  proprietor  of  the 
Bungalow.  It  was  enclosed  within  a  white 
picket  fence,  and  a  dense  foliage  had  grown 
all  about  it. 

Presently  Akamah  appeared  in  my  doorway 
with  a  small  glass  in  his  hand.  His  face  was 
radiant  with  smiles.  The  glass  contained  a 
liquid  of  some  kind,— a  dark  and  pungent 
liquid.  Akamah  approached  me  with  the  air 
of  an  ambassador  who  is  the  bearer  of  royal 
gifts.  He  crept  carefully  under  the  gauze 
curtain  of  my  bed,  and,  extending  his  hand 
with  the  glass,  said  soothingly:  "Cockatail: 
you  take  cockatail?"  I  could  not  deny  him, 
for  to  repulse  his  kindness  would  have  been 
cruel.  I  took  the  potion,  probably  his  first 
attempt  at  a  like  concoction.  Shades  of 
quinine  and  gall,  with  red  pepper  and  a  dash 
of  the  extract  of  unripe  persimmons  in  it! 
I  think  that  draught  was  compounded  of 
Worcestershire  sauce,  cherry  bounce  and  to 
bacco.  Well,  if  it  did  not  cure  me,  it  did  not 
kill  me,  and  Akamah  was  supremely  happy. 
Then  I  sank  into  the  soothing  languors  of  the 
310 


A   BUNGALOW    ' '  BEE  ' ' 

afternoon.  Surely  the  hours  were  restful ;  for 
they  were  not  long,  though  they  were  empty. 

By  and  by  came  the  boys  galloping  home. 
As  soon  as  the  horses  were  turned  loose— one 
does  not  stable  them  in  that  delectable  land — 
the  riders  stole  softly  into  my  room,  one  at  a 
time.  The  first  brought  a  fruit  offering— the 
very  choicest  fruits  filling  a  net  to  overflow 
ing.  Oh,  the  alligator  pears,  the  mangoes, 
guavas,  and  the  ohias  which  seemed  like  the 
materialized  ghosts  of  the  most  delicious 
apples  that  ever  grew!  The  next  a  flower 
offering— wreaths  and  garlands  of  the  native 
flowers,  such  as  the  Hawaiians  love  to  adorn 
themselves  with,— and  it  must  be  confessed 
that  they  adorn  the  flowers  who  wear  them. 
Lastly,  a  book  offering — a  selection  of  the 
very  latest  literary  successes.  What  more 
could  be  done  for  me,  or  for  any  one  under 
similar  circumstances? 

They  dined  without  me,  though  I  was  thrice 
invited,  and  Akamah  put  in  an  imploring 
word  as  a  kind  of  "Amen"  to  it  all.  After 
dinner  there  was  a  popular  concert  on  the 
veranda,  but  very  near  my  end  of  it,  and  evi 
dently  especially  addressed  to  my  ears.  Every 
song  that  I  liked  was  sung,  to  the  accom 
paniment  of  mandolins,  guitars,  and  ukuleles 
311 


THE    ISLAND    OF    TRANQUIL    DELIGHTS 

—or  "Taro  Patch  fiddles,"  a  Portuguese  in 
strument  that  looks  like  a  lilliputian  guitar 
and  is  strummed  after  the  manner  of  the 
mandolin.  This,  the  favorite  instrument  of 
the  Hawaiian,  has  almost  become  national, 
and  when  heard  in  the  twilight  or  the  moon 
light  is  bewitching  beyond  compare.  Listen 
ing  to  this  offering  of  devotion,  I  fell  asleep, 
and  even  the  terriers  seemed  to  realize  that  it 
was  the  polite— not  to  say  the  humane  thing— 
to  walk  about  on  their  tiptoes. 

The  languor  of  the  morning  followed. 
"Will  you  breakfast  with  us?' '-"No!" 
They  each  paid  me  his  first  visit  on  returning 
from  the  bath-house,  a  rustic  arbor  on  the 
other  side  of  the  lawn,  with  a  deep  basin  con 
stantly  refilled  by  a  flowing  rivulet  of  moun 
tain  water.  After  breakfast  another  inter 
view,  with  an  air  of  increased  anxiety  darken 
ing  the  brows  of  those  dear  fellows. 

' '  Would  you  like  to  take  a  little  tour  around 
the  island  of  Oahu?"— the  island  on  which 
we  lived. 

"No." 

' '  Some  of  us  will  go  with  you  if  you  would 
like  to  go." 

"  No !  I  have  been  around  and  around  the 
island." 

312 


Then  spake  the  second  voice : 

"Will  you  go  to  Maui  and  Haleakala,  if 
some  of  us  will  go  with  you?'' 

"No!  I  have  been  there  again  and  again." 

The  third  voice  was  lifted  doubtfully: 

"Will  you  go  to  Hawaii  and  see  the  vol 
cano?  It  is  very  active  now." 

"  No !  I  have  seen  in  action  three  of  the 
greatest  volcanoes  in  the  world,  including 
Hale-Mau-Mau.  I  should  not  care  to  see  any 
one  of  them,  even  if  it  were  brought  to  my 
door." 

The  trio  left  me  in  despair,  but  not  until, 
at  my  request,  Momona  had  suggested  to  Aka- 
mah  that  perhaps,  owing  to  the  abnormal  con 
dition  of  my  nervous  system,  it  were  better 
for  him  not  to  tempt  me  in  future  with  the 
"flowing  bowl." 

Another  day,  in  which  I  seemed  almost  at 
my  last  gasp,  passed  like  a  dream.  I  must 
have  dozed,  for  the  hours  were  so  very  brief. 
But  all  through  it  I  heard  the  faint  murmur"" 
of  the  reef;  the  voices  of  Hawaiians  singing 
or  wailing  for  joy  or  sorrow;  the  birds,  the 
bees,  the  soughing  of  the  trade-wind  as  it 
swept  through  the  house ;  and  again  the  pelt 
ing  of  the  passing  showers  that  fell  upon  the 
roof  like  avalanches  of  shot.  Betimes  Aka- 
313 


THE   ISLAND   OF   TRANQUIL,   DELIGHTS 

mail  came  softly  to  the  door  in  sandals  and 
peeped  in,  but  said  nothing.  He  was  evi 
dently  grieved:  his  occupation  was  gone. 
The  menagerie  grew  sympathetic;  all  the 
dogs  came  in  and  threw  themselves  in  a  half- 
tragic  manner  upon  the  floor,  as  if  they  de 
spaired  of  me,  but  were  faithful  unto  death; 
then  they  went  to  sleep,  but  rousing  and  rush 
ing  at  intervals  into  the  air,  as  if  they  had 
been  sent  for  in  hot  haste.  On  a  table  beside 
me  was  a  tray  of  tempting  fruits,  a  pitcher  of 
lemonade,  and  flowers  whose  fragrance  was 
almost  overpowering.  Even  the  Circean  cigar 
ette  was  left  unlit,  though  I  was  a  smoker  then. 

Again  the  boys  returned  and  paid  me  their 
visits  of  sympathy.  More  kindly  enquiries 
followed : 

"Will  you  have  a  doctor?" 

"No." 

' '  Would  you  like  all  the  fellows  to  come  up 
some  evening  and  have  a  good  time  with 
you?" 

"No." 

1 '  Then  what  on  earth  do  you  want  1 ' ' — with 
a  pardonable  touch  of  impatience. 

"Nothing!" 

When  they  said  good-by  next  morning 
they  seemed  to  be  taking  leave  of  my  remains. 

314: 


I  found  that  Akamah  was  passing  most  of 
his  time  just  outside  of  my  door.  He  spread 
his  mat  there,  and  there  waited  hour  after 
hour  the  happening  of  the  unexpected.  Of 
course  anything  that  might  happen  must  be 
unexpected,  for  no  one  of  us  could  read  the 
future,  and  we  were  all  in  the  dark  so  far  as 
my  case  was  concerned.  I  discovered  him  on 
his  watch,  because  I  heard  a  knock  at  one  of 
the  veranda  doors;  it  was  repeated  twice  or 
thrice,  and  then  footsteps  came  my  way,  and 
in  a  few  moments  Father  Leanore,  of  the 
cathedral,  entered  my  room.  He  had  wan 
dered  through  the  house — the  rooms  were  all 
connected— until  he  found  me  in  my  bed. 
Then  he  went  to  the  veranda  door  and  saw 
Akamah  wrapped  in  profoundest  slumber.  I 
fear  he  had  been  sitting  up  o '  nights  and  was. 
overcome  at  last.  We  let  him  sleep. 

Good  Father  Leanore  had  learned  of  my 
case  from  one  of  the  boys— or  all  of  them. 
He  said,  as  he  sat  by  my  side,  his  finger  on 
my  pulse:  "My  dear  child,  there  is  nothing 
the  matter  with  you.  You  are  a  little  run 
down  and  have  the  boohoo  fever,  which  is 
rather  depressing  but  perfectly  harmless. 
You  need  change,  that  is  all,— you  need  a 
change. "  At  once  I  lifted  up  my  heart. 
315 


THE   ISLAND   OP    TRANQUIL   DELIGHTS 

Change?  Of  course!  Why  not  take  the 
steamer,  then  in  port,  and  run  up  to  the 
Coast— that  is  San  Francisco— for  a  few 
weeks?  I  had  not  seen  my  friends  there  for 
two  quiet,  balmy,  beautiful,  but  monotonous 
years.  I  smiled  at  the  prospect.  We  became 
almost  merry,  Father  Leanore  and  I ;  he  left 
me  feeling  brighter  than  I  had  felt  for  a  long 
time.  I  could  hardly  wait  for  the  return  of 
the  boys.  But  presently  I  heard  their  horses' 
hoofs  on  the  two  bridges  in  the  edge  of  the 
town,  and  then  I  heard  them  tearing  wildly 
up  to  the  Bungalow  and  then — 

Well,  they  were  beaming.  They  had  con 
sulted  Father  Leanore,  and  he  had  said  to 
them,  on  his  return  to  town:  "Send  him  to 
the  Coast  by  steamer  which  leaves  to-morrow. 
A  change  is  all  he  needs,  and  that  is  the  one 
change  for  him."  When  the  boys  came  in 
Momona  was  waving  a  slip  of  paper  in  his 
hand.  He  gave  it  to  me  with  an  air  of 
triumph.  It  was  a  pass  to  San  Francisco  and 
return,  good  for  three  months!  I  laughed 
outright.  The  boys  gave  three  cheers,  and 
then  each  in  turn  embraced  me  and  said: 
"You  will  dine  with  us  this  evening?*'  Of 
course  I  did.  But  imagine  my  amazement 
when  I  was  escorted  to  the  dining-room  to 
316 


find  it  thronged  with  our  most  intimate 
friends  who  were  to  spend  the  evening  with 
us.  And  such  a  joyous  evening!  Music  into 
the  dawn— almost.  Merry  tales  of  the  merry 
times  we  had  had  together  in  the  Bungalow. 
Akamah  was  quite  in  his  element,  for  we 
were  hungry  again  at  midnight,  and  he 
gloried  in  preparing  an  impromptu  repast. 
I  seemed  to  have  somehow  suddenly  come  to 
the  surface  out  of  the  depths.  It  was  Father 
Leanore  who  was  the  good  physician,  and  his 
prescription  worked  wonderfully. 

The  next  day  at  noon  I  drove  to  the  dock, 
accompanied  by  a  retinue  of  outriders;  all 
of  the  boys  who  frequented  the  Bungalow 
came  with  me.  Bandmaster  Berger,  with  his 
Eoyal  Hawaiian  Band,  played  for  me  a  fare 
well—  " Beautiful  Isle  of  the  Sea!"— and  we 
slipped  cable  and  drifted  out  of  the  harbor 
into  the  blue  Pacific. 

The  truth  is,  I  suppose,  that  I  had  sucked 
my  orange  dry  and  was  sick  of  the  pulp:  I 
needed  a  new  orange,— that  is  all.  Yet  that 
night,  when  the  beautiful  isle  of  the  sea  had 
vanished  beyond  the  horizon,  and  I  began  to 
think  of  the  pastimes  which  we  had  all  lately 
shared  in  the  dear  old  Bungalow,  I  could  have 
wept  anew,  and  would  have  given  all  I  was 

317 


Other  Books 

CJ  South  Sea  Idyls 

CJ  Lazy  Letters  from  Low  Latitudes 

CJ  The  Lepers  of  Molokai 

CJ  Mashallah :  A  Flight  into  Egypt 

CJ  A  Cruise  Under  the  Crescent 

CJ  Over  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  Alaska 

CJ  In  the  Footprints  of  the  Padres 

CJ  A  Troubled  Heart 

CJ  For  the  Pleasure  of  His  Company 

CJ  Exits  and  Entrances 

CJThe  Wonder  Worker  of  Padua 

CJ  Father  Damien :  A  Sketch 

CJ  Poems 


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JUL  251934 

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UNIV.  OF  CALIF,  BE 

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1338 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


